The Dead Court
by Farbautidottir
Summary: After moving to Asgard with Thor, Jane Foster notices a fear of Odin has crept into the hearts of the Æsir. On a mission to Vanaheim, she receives her troubling prophecy and vows to leave Asgard for good. Instead she discovers Odin is Loki and he kidnaps her, escaping to Jötunheim, where Jane quickly learns that you cannot outrun fate. Lokane - Jane/Loki - Post Winter Solider.
1. Guide

**Guide to ****_The Dead Court_**

**Setting**

_The Dead Court_ begins about five months after the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. and a little over a year after _Thor: The Dark World_ ends. It is set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but has influences from the Marvel Comics and Norse Mythology. It takes place entirely in Yggdrasil, which encompasses the Nine Realms.

* * *

><p><strong>Principal Characters<strong>

Jane Foster

Loki Laufeyson _possesses the power to shapeshift, realm jump, and conjure matter; currently ruling Asgard under shapeshifted guise of Odin._

_.o._

Asgard:

Sif

Thor _Jane's boyfriend, son of Odin, adoptive brother of Loki, Sif's former boyfriend, and primary heir to the throne of Asgard_

Fandral _one of the Warriors Three, friend of Jane, Sif, and Thor_

Heimdall _ward of Asgard, friend of Jane, Sif, Thor, and the Warriors Three_

Volstagg _one of the Warriors Three, friend of Jane, Sif, and Thor_

Odin _King of Asgard and Protector of the Nine Realms who is currently in Odinsleep, father of Thor and adoptive father of Loki  
><em>

Frigga _(deceased) Queen of Asgard, mother of Thor, and adoptive mother of Loki_

__.o.__

Vanaheim:

Valfreyja _Queen of Vanaheim who possesses the power of prophecy_

Freyr _twin brother of Valfreyja, son of previous ruler of Vanaheim, Njörðr_

Hnoss_ eldest daughter of Valfreyja and primary heir to the throne of Vanaheim_

Gersemi _youngest daughter of Valfreyja and secondary heir to the throne of Vanaheim_

Hogun _one of the Warriors Three, friend of Sif and Thor_

Otta_ Valfreyja's Human lover_

__.o.__

Jötunheim:

Nál _Queen of Jötunheim and biological mother of Loki_

Skaði _member of Loki's Jötunn noble tribe who takes Vanir guise whenever not in Jötunheim; secondary heir to the throne of Jötunheim_

Gerðr _teenage daughter of Nál and primary heir to the throne of Jötunheim_

Laufey_ (deceased) King of Jötunheim, biological father of Loki_

__.o.__

Midgard (Earth):

Tony Stark _philanthropist, playboy, billionaire genius and friend of Jane_

Maria Hill _director of covert branch of Stark Industries intended to recreate S.H.I.E.L.D._

Erik Selvig _mentor and friend to Jane, scientist who works for Director Hill_

Pepper Potts_ CEO of Stark Industries, girlfriend of Tony, friend of Jane_

Bruce Banner _scientist who works for Stark Industries, friend of Tony, Erik and Jane_

Darcy_ friend and colleague of Jane_

Ian_ friend and colleague of Jane_

* * *

><p><strong>Pronunciation Guide<strong>

Most foreign words in the text are names from Norse mythology, Marvel's _Thor_ comics, or of Icelandic origin.

j = y (like the 'y' in yes)

i.e., Jötunheim = Yotunheim

Æ = A (like the 'a' in Aztec or hat)

i.e., Æsir = Asir

ð = th (like the 'th' in this or breathe)

i.e., Skaði = Skathi

ö = long o (like the 'o' in clover)

i.e., Jötnar = Yotnar

double letters, like nn or gg = longer held letter

i.e., Jötunn = Yotunn, where you say the 'n' for a little longer

The rest are very similar to English pronunciation!

* * *

><p><strong>Races Guide<strong>

Jötunheim

Jötunn = single person from Jötunheim or adjective to describe something of Jötunheim

Jötnar = multiple Jötunn, general term for collective population of Jötunheim

Other names: Frost Giants, giants

__.o.__

Vanaheim

Vanir = single person from Vanaheim; adjective to describe something of Vanaheim; plural and collective term for people from Vanaheim

__.o.__

Asgard

Æsir = single person from Asgard; adjective to describe something of Asgard; plural and collective term for people from Asgard

Asgardian = single person who pledges loyalty to the realm of Asgard; adjective to describe something belonging to Asgard but not necessarily originating in Asgard

__.o.__

Midgard (Earth)

Human = preferred term by people from Midgard to identify their race (pluralized as _Humans_)

Other names: mortal, Earthling, Midgardian, Terran

__.o.__

Alfheim

Ljóstalf = single person from Alfheim

Ljóstalfar = plural term for people from Alfheim

Other names: Light Elves


	2. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: The story is basically written, so I'm hoping to update twice a week starting next week. Be sure to check out the Guide for clarification on pronunciation, locations, setting, characters, and races. Hope everyone enjoys it as much as I have enjoyed writing it!_

_If you haven't seen the trailer yet, check it out at... www . youtube watch?v=zilkbWnWa1o (sorry, there's a . com after the youtube and a / between the com and the watch part)_

* * *

><p><strong><em>Songs for the chapter: "Gone and Found" by MØ, "This Night Has Opened My Eyes" by The Smiths<em>**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

Jane felt like she was suffocating in green. It was Ian's birthday and Darcy had gone way overboard with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme for his surprise party. As she held the end of a green streamer up so that Darcy could tape the other end in place, she asked, "How many people are even coming to this?"

Darcy glared at her before stating, "Just because you haven't made any friends in London, does not mean we all haven't."

"Sorry," Jane said. "What I meant was isn't this a lot of party stuff—especially for a guy who is turning, what, twenty-two?"

"It's a big deal!" Darcy exclaimed. "Ian's never had a themed birthday before! His mom wouldn't allow it. This has to be the biggest, craziest little kid type themed party ever."

"Okay," Jane laughed. "Good thing Ninja Turtles are back in style, I guess?"

"Right?!" Darcy said. "Ian said it was his favorite as a kid. It's gonna be epic. Oh, is Thor still coming? Does he eat cake?"

"He should be." Jane nodded. "And, I guess? I don't know. They don't have cake on Asgard—more of a puddings and pies kind of place."

"Tell me about it." Darcy rolled her eyes. "Did you know I had to go to three Tescos before I found one with the tubs of buttercream icing? What are these people doing with their lives?"

Jane laughed and the familiar sound of a thunderstorm came from outside.

"Oh good, Space Boy isn't late." Darcy smirked.

Jane dropped the streamer and ran outside to greet Thor. It had been nearly three months since she'd last seen him on her most recent visit to Asgard. He looked radiant as always, as if the stars shone out of his skin. Jane was about to kiss him when she noticed he hadn't come alone.

"I hope it's not an imposition," Thor began. "Sif has never been to a human's birthday party before."

"No, not at all." Jane smiled at both Thor and Sif. "I think Darcy's expecting the whole of London to show up, so the more the merrier."

"Thank you." Sif said. She looked around her at the misty drizzle and back to Jane. "This is different than the desert."

"Yeah, it's…" Jane trailed off.

"Wetter." Thor finished for her.

Jane smiled and then ushered them inside.

"How will the entire city fit inside of this chamber?" Sif wondered aloud.

"Earth humor." Thor said quietly and Sif gave a slight blush.

She had learned plenty about Midgardian culture from her time with Agent Coulson's team some months ago in the southwestern United States, but their humor had never clicked for her. She did not find Jane to be particularly full of Earth humor, though, which was a relief given how much time she was spending in Asgard these days.

"Darcy!" Thor cried. "You've done an incredible job with the place. It's so very…green."

"Thank you, Thor!" Darcy beamed and shot Jane a 'told you so' look.

"Darcy, you remember Sif?" Thor said as Sif moved further into the living room.

"Yes, from New Mexico like three years ago." Darcy said. "Hi!"

"Hello," Sif said. "Thank you for letting me attend your friend's birth festivities."

"No way! Thanks for coming!" Darcy bubbled.

"On Asgard we celebrate our Quinquagenary instead." Sif explained.

"What's a Quinn Kwajen thing?" Darcy asked.

"It means fiftieth anniversary." Jane explained quickly and then asked, "Okay, what else do you need help with before Ian gets here?"

"Um…" Darcy looked around the room to spot what was missing. The streamers were up, ninja turtle cardboard stand-ups were in place, the ninja turtle and green paper plates and cups were stacked by the food and impromptu bar, the table had a plastic green table cloth on it, the homemade ninja turtle cake was out as the centerpiece. "Oh! The candles. I forgot to buy birthday candles."

"I can go buy them. "Jane said. "Aren't you finishing the appetizers?"

"Yes! I mean, just frozen pizza bagels, but still. Oven on and stuff. Don't want to burn down the apartment."

"Right," Jane said. It was her apartment. "Do you need anything else while I'm out? Ice? Beer?"

"All stocked. Really I just need to start blowing up these balloons. You didn't have any helium in the lab, Jane!"

"Helium?" Sif asked, looking to Thor. "From Hela?"

Thor shrugged.

"Uh, it's an element. A gas." Jane explained. "It's lighter than air, so the balloons will float."

"What are 'balloons'?" Thor asked.

"These," Darcy held up a green balloon from her pack of fifty and blew it up a little bit. "See? But no go on the floating part."

"Oh, well, I don't know about helium, but I think we can help." Sif said. She held out her hand for the balloon and added, "May I?"

"Sure, be my guest." Darcy said handing the deflated balloon over.

Sif blew into the balloon, which easily filled to capacity, and Darcy took it back from her to show her how to seal it. When they released it, the green oval floated to the ceiling.

"Um, awesome!" Darcy exclaimed.

"I'm gonna have to test your lung air, Thor." Jane said. "What _is_ that?"

"We have a secondary store of air for swimming." Sif explained. "It's lighter weight as to not slow us down."

"What Sif said," Thor laughed. "It's particularly useful when having swim races with the Vanir. They lack this extra air."

"You are terrible at those races!" Sif said.

"Sif, not in front of the Earthlings. They can never know my weaknesses!" Thor teased and then walked over to Jane to pick her up in an embrace. "I never said hello, Jane."

"Hello," Jane smiled, looking into his sky blue eyes before kissing him.

"Get a room!" Darcy cried.

"This is my apartment." Jane pointed out.

Darcy rolled her eyes and looked at Sif, "How much special air do you have?"

"Enough for that package of… balloons." Sif replied, grateful for the excuse to not pay attention to Thor with Jane.

"Okay, I'm going for the candles now." Jane said.

"I'll come with you, Jane." Thor said. "I need to talk to you about something."

Darcy raised her eyebrows and looked at Sif. Sif shrugged. Thor never spoke to her about his relationships. She liked to think this was because he knew it would hurt her, but she was unsure if Thor understood how she felt about him still.

"Okay, but change first." Jane said looking over Thor's Asgardian garb. She looked at Darcy and asked, "What time is everyone getting here?"

"Eight o'clock. Ian is coming at half past." Darcy said.

Jane looked at her cell phone's clock. It was 7:45. Thor would have to be concise, whatever it was he planned to talk to her about. The gnaw of worry crept in that he was dumping her, but then why come now? And why bring Sif? It wasn't logical. She noticed a low security classification text message from Director Hill and pressed her thumb print to the screen to open it. There was an emoticon of a rainbow followed by a question mark. She replied, "Mine" and put the phone in her back pocket.

Once Thor's visits to Earth and Jane's trips to Asgard became a standard thing, Director Fury had required everyone to check in whenever they used the Bifröst or were visited by someone who used it. "We want to attempt to regulate the airspace now that it's not just our own space junk coming and going." Fury had explained.

The emoticon had been Tony Stark's joke of an idea when the whole initiative started and had originally consisted of a bridge emoticon as well. Of course, Jane was still the only person from Earth who ever used the Bifröst, so the whole concept was a tad overdone. After learning five months ago that Director Fury had died during the collapse of S.H.I.E.L.D., Jane thought this whole thing would stop, but instead Tony took it over personally to keep it out of HYDRA's hands and protect Jane from government investigation. He jokingly complained that since the Bifröst caused the arc reactor to temporarily go offline, he might as well get to bug Jane if she was going to shut off his electricity with her god of thunder love affair.

After a couple months of it being just Jane and Tony on the Bifröst Alert Line, Maria Hill, the former Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., took over. Stark Industries hired her shortly after the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. and their CEO, Pepper Potts, decided to give Maria the means to covertly restart a maintenance level of S.H.I.E.L.D. in order to protect Earth from alien threats.

"You ready?" Jane asked as Thor emerged from her bedroom in jeans and a henley shirt. The blue fabric stretched snugly around his bulging pectoral muscles and Jane was glad they were leaving right then. Otherwise she wouldn't trust herself not to pull the shirt right off of him.

"All set." Thor smiled and opened the door of the flat for Jane.

She grabbed her keys from the entryway shelf and called, "Twenty-two candles, right?"

"Yeah! And not the kind that relight. Those are so annoying." Darcy called to her from the kitchen.

~.~.~

On the street, the earlier mist had become a light drizzle. It wasn't hard enough to merit a hood, but it made Jane shiver slightly. Thor moved his arm around her, emanating out some radiation from his lifeforce to warm her. He called it magic.

"Odin has been asking about you, Jane." Thor began. "He noticed that you are visiting Asgard more often and he wants to know what my feelings are for you. He is concerned that things are becoming serious between us."

Jane could hardly stand, let alone walk. She moved to lean on the metal post of a zebra crossing sign.

"Jane, are you all right?" Thor asked.

"What did you say?" she whispered.

"I asked if you are okay."

"No, to Odin. What did you tell Odin?"

"I told him the truth." Thor said. "That I love you."

"And?" Jane said, her ability to breathe returning.

"And he says that I cannot keep leaving Asgard so often." Thor said.

"Oh," Jane frowned. _Would Odin make Thor stop seeing her?_ She wondered.

"Jane," Thor began. "Odin is requiring you to move to Asgard permanently if we are to continue our relationship."

"Move?" Jane said.

"Yes, to Asgard." Thor said.

"With you?" Jane asked.

"Well, I should hope." Thor said with a laugh. "I will give you time to think it over, of course."

"No!" Jane said. "I mean, yes. I mean, I don't need any time to think about it. I want to come."

"Wonderful!" Thor said. "And you're sure you're okay? Your color went entirely off for a moment."

"I'm great!" Jane beamed. "I thought… I thought you were breaking up with me."

"No," Thor said and placed his hand on her shoulder. "I would never part with you, Jane."

He kissed her softly on the forehead.

Jane let out an excited laugh and exclaimed, "I'm moving to Asgard!"

Thor laughed with her and then Jane remembered they needed to buy candles. She led Thor in the direction of the grocery store, figuring the corner shop wouldn't carry something this unordinary.

Jane wondered if Odin's requirement meant he was actually beginning to approve of her, possibly even like her. Hope swelled inside of her, leaving her feeling lighter than helium.

~.~.~

They got back to Jane's apartment just after eight. She handed Darcy three ten-packs of candles, all in the color green, and saw only a couple other people were there mingling awkwardly with Sif. Her concern that no one would come seemed to be accurate, unfortunately.

"Tube delays." Darcy said, seeing Jane's expression. "I think."

"I'm sure. Saturdays are the worst." Jane agreed.

"Thor! So good to see you." A familiar voice called. Jane turned to find her mentor Dr. Erik Selvig walking into her apartment and embracing Thor.

"I didn't know you invited Erik!" Jane said to Darcy. "That was nice of you."

"Yeah, well, I figured you'd want to see him again…" Darcy shrugged as she attempted to hide a large grin.

"Wait, you knew what Thor was going to ask?" Jane said.

Darcy just continued to grin.

"Jane!" Erik called, walking over to her with open arms. "I'm excited for you and Thor both. It's going to be a real adventure."

Jane hugged Erik and shot Thor a look. He only laughed.

"Forgive me, but I seem to have missed the exciting news?" Sif said.

"Jane's moving to Asgard!" Darcy burst out. "Thor told us last week."

Sif looked to Thor with wide eyes. _Why would he not have told me this? _She wondered.

"She only just said yes." Thor explained to Sif breezily. "Odin commands it."

"Of course," Sif said after a moment. She managed a smile at Thor and then Jane, but inside she was furious with Thor and disappointed with herself for being foolish enough to think their relationship might end. Now it was only a matter of time before Thor convinced Odin to give Jane one of Iðunn's apples. _Unless it truly is Odin's command_, she reasoned. Odin had not been himself for the last few months.

"Okay, okay! Celebration drinks!" Darcy said.

"Wait, is this even Ian's birthday party?" Jane asked.

"Um, duh. Why else would I buy some much ninja turtle crap? And why would Matt and Anne Marie be here?" Darcy replied. "Say hi guys. Um, Thor's also from the village Asgard in Norway, like Sif."

The two strangers waved at Thor from their spot on the couch. Darcy busied herself pouring gin and tonics into paper party cups. Sif stood and walked over to Darcy after realizing she was too upset to be around Thor after hearing the news.

"Forgive me, Darcy, but I must go." Sif said.

"Already? You haven't even met Ian!"

"Please give him my regards." Sif said.

She walked to the balcony where they'd landed.

"Sif, wait," Thor said, hurrying after her.

She didn't pause and he followed her outside to the balcony, grabbing her arm to turn her towards him. Jane watched through the window as they had a heated discussion in voices too low to hear. As Darcy placed a room temperature gin and tonic in her hand, she saw Thor cup Sif's face in his hands. Jane instinctively drank the entire cup, nearly choking at the high gin to tonic ratio.

"Easy now," Erik said, rubbing her back as she coughed.

The Bifröst had opened and Thor had not released Sif's arm by the time it transported her. A flash of crystallized light filled the room causing Matt and Anne Marie to look out the window. Sif and Thor were no longer there.

"Was that lightning?" Matt asked.

"Yeah." Jane said tightly. She handed her empty cup to Erik and went to the front door. "I'm going for a walk. I'll come back after 8:30, don't worry."

"Jane," Erik called softly. When she did not turn to him he added, "Take a jacket."

Jane grabbed her jacket and keys and hurried out the door, working hard not to slam it as she left. She didn't want to ruin Darcy's big night.

She wasn't sure where she was going, she just needed to be outside. Usually, when she was feeling frustrated or wound up about her data she went to the cathedral a few blocks away and sat in its garden. It was her rooftop equivalent to Puente Antiguo, except with much worse stargazing. She decided to go there now.

The garden was still in bloom, but a late summer decay. She felt a bit like the flowers here, as though she was persisting past her time. Outstaying her welcome. Their prime beauty had faded weeks ago and now the petals clung on in their ugly, hearty states, desperate not to shrivel and dry up.

Jane ran the scene through her mind again, attempting to take on an objective view. Sif and Thor were dear friends. This was a fact she was well aware of from every aspect. They shared an unspoken language that she was yet to fully develop with Thor. They knew each other from childhood and had fought more perilous battles together than Jane could fathom. Perhaps Sif was merely expressing her concerns as a friend to Thor. But even then, what was the concern? Jane's human form? Her limitations? Probably.

Jane sighed. She liked Sif. She admired her strength and poise. Many times she wished that she could more like her. If Thor had feelings for Sif, Jane was unsure how she felt about it. She loved Thor, of course, but then so did Sif.

Jane let out a groan.

There was another option. Sif could be upset about something else entirely. Jane did not know her very well, and anything could be going on in Sif's life. The whole thing could have been entirely coincidental. After all, Sif had come tonight knowing the party was in Jane's apartment. It was not as if she and Thor's relationship had ever been a secret.

Jane nodded to herself even though she was not sold on the idea. She pulled out her phone to check the time, which was 8:27, and saw another rainbow emoticon text from the Bifröst Alert Line. She replied, "Mine" and then opened her photos. She wanted to look at photos of her and Thor together to see if he looked happy. She knew it was illogical, so she told herself it was the gin making her do it. As she swiped through her albums, she came across a photo of the Æsir library. She'd snuck it in one afternoon while visiting Asgard. Odin had invited her there while Thor was away on business in Vanaheim, and he took the time to give her a more intimate tour of the endless stacks than the librarians ever had. After he had left her to read in peace, she'd taken the photo.

She zoomed in on it, trying to pretend she was back in the library, which was her favorite spot in Asgard. As she moved over the width of the photo, something caught her eye. In the far left corner, where the stacks met a rarely used passageway Odin had showed her, there was a blur of green and gold surrounding what looked like a figure. She tried to zoom further in to make out what it was, but the pixilation was too great. When she zoomed all the way out, it only looked like a smear of grey and green. _Creepy._ She thought.

She looked around her, feeling suddenly frightened in the garden, like a ghost was present. She didn't believe in ghosts, but that was not how she felt at that moment. She stood up and walked out of the garden and back towards her building. She was not ready to go back yet though and instead cut left on the thoroughfare heading away from her apartment.

Refocusing her thoughts on tangible, non-supernatural things, she told herself that regardless of what had happened between Sif and Thor tonight, she had to decide if she was going to Asgard or not. Less than an hour ago that answer was certain. Now, though, she weighed her options.

After she, Erik, and Thor saved the universe from Malekith's destruction, S.H.I.E.L.D. had moved her from an observation status to something more involved in the organization. They were basically her employer until their downfall five months ago, even though her paychecks were issued under other corporation names. One of those names was Stark Industries. She had met Tony Stark and Pepper Potts through Erik, and they had gotten on well. So well, in fact, that Tony had offered her a legitimate career in Stark Industries doing research next to Dr. Bruce Banner. Dr. Banner's research had basically inspired her second dissertation, so it was kind of a big deal. But working with Dr. Banner required consistency and routine due to his condition, and she had been unable to commit to it because of how often she was in Asgard. Perhaps now she could take on that role.

But what about Asgard? Living there would give her more access to every technology they had. She could advance the human race by centuries in one day's worth of reading in the Æsir library. Or working in their healings rooms. Or talking shop with Heimdall, if he'd let her. She could take all of that knowledge back to Earth and go to work for Tony then. With Dr. Banner's help, they could make her discoveries look like collaborative research on Earth. They would be winning Nobel prizes for decades with the insight she could gain in Asgard.

The decision seemed obvious, but Jane's heart hesitated. It threw up walls and berated her for belittling her feelings in lieu of logic.

There was a change in the clouds and she looked back in the direction of her apartment to see a surge of energy. Someone had come from Asgard. She altered her route to head home, pulling out her phone to text "Mine too" before Director Hill could ask.


	3. Chapter 2

**_Songs for the chapter: "No Mythologies To Follow" by MØ, "Earth to Asgard" by Patrick Doyle_**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

The party was in full swing when Jane returned. She was shocked at the sheer number of people who could fit inside the one bedroom apartment. Darcy was all smiles and laughter as she poured drinks for some girls Jane had never seen before.

Ian caught Jane's eye and waved. He wore a cone shaped ninja turtle birthday hat and looked thoroughly pleased. Jane waved back and hung up her jacket.

Erik approached her and said, "He's in your room. You okay?"

"Better." Jane smiled. "A useful walk."

She placed her hand softly on Erik's arm to thank him for his concern and turned to the closed door of her bedroom.

~.~.~

Thor sat on her bed still in his Earth clothes. He looked up at her when she came in.

"Jane, I am so sorry." He began. "I'm certain my interaction tonight with Sif had misleading appearances. I assure you that she and I are only friends."

"It's okay." Jane said. She sat next to him on the bed. "I think I just needed to think about the move more than I had."

"And has your decision changed?"

"No," Jane said. "No, I still plan to move to Asgard. There is too much there for me to turn it down."

As soon as she said the words aloud, she realized this was the least romantic thing anyone could have ever said when their boyfriend asked them to move in with them.

Thor smiled regardless and said, "I am pleased to hear it."

He leaned over to kiss her, his lips tasting of the cheap gin Darcy was serving. Jane kissed him back. It was calm at first, but then their tongues met and Jane's hand began to wander over his chest. She tugged at his shirt, which he let her pull off, and ran her hands over his smooth, hard skin. Thor stood and locked the bedroom door before returning to her. He fumbled to unbutton her flannel shirt, his fingers too large for the task, and Jane finished for him, removing her bra as well. Thor softly caressed the bare skin of her back underneath her hair before kissing her lips again. They finished undressing and he placed her on the bed. His huge frame hovered over her a moment before he slid himself inside of her.

The sex didn't last long, which was fine by Jane since there were thirty people on the other side of the thin, wooden door. Thor rolled beside her as to not crush her under his weight, and his hand lingered on her stomach.

"When should I move?" Jane asked him.

"As soon as possible." Thor replied a little too excited even for his eager demeanor. "Odin has forbade me to make any further trips to Midgard that are unrelated to its protection."

"Let's go after the party then." Jane said. "I don't need to pack much, just some journals that are in the lab. Anything else I'd need is already in my room there."

Thor nodded and sat up.

"Very well, we should rejoin the party."

"Yes." Jane forced a smile.

She watched Thor pull his clothing back on and wondered if she was making a huge mistake. But there was something pushing her towards Asgard. Ever since meeting Thor, she had felt an odd sense that the realm was waiting for her.

Jane stood and pulled her undergarments back on, opting to pull a dress from her wardrobe instead of her jeans and flannel.

"Am I underdressed?" Thor frowned.

"No, I just… I want to dress up for my last night on Earth." Jane smiled.

Thor smiled and assessed her outfit, "You look beautiful."

"Thanks," Jane said.

"No, Jane, thank you for agreeing to this." Thor said, his voice earnest. "I cannot imagine life without you, but I fear upsetting Odin. He is not the same since Frigga's passing and Loki's death on Svartalfheim. Your moving makes it so I do not have to choose, which is the greatest gift you could give me."

_Maybe it isn't a huge mistake._ Jane thought.

"I'm glad to come, Thor." Jane assured him. It was not exactly a lie, but Jane felt some guilt for omitting her full rationale in moving. Her motives were not as selfless as he painted them to be.

"I need to inform Director Hill." She said suddenly. "I'll be out there in a second."

Thor nodded and left the bedroom. She fished her cell phone from her discarded pants' pocket and unlocked the secure connection. She didn't want to call Hill; that would feel too much like asking permission. Besides, it wasn't like she had a direct line to her. She'd be telling some covert employee who was being watched in secret by another employee who would then relay the message to Hill. _No thanks._ She thought.

She opted instead to send a text to the Bifröst Alert Line. She would be using the Bifröst, so it made sense. She kept the text vague and brief, stating: _Heading to Asgard tonight for an extended stay. Return date unknown._

Only seconds after hitting Send did her phone chirp a new text alert. It was from Tony Stark directly and featured a giant emoticon of a smiley face with swelling hearts for eyes followed by the words, _Pepper says you'd better have 10,000 demigod babies!_ Jane blushed crimson and wrote back, _You're the worst!_ before shutting off the phone. She threw it on her bed and went out to finally join the party.

* * *

><p>Darcy handed Jane a Tupperware with a slice of cake in it saying, "A piece of Earth to take with you."<p>

Jane thanked her and put it in the satchel she wore. It barely fit with all her journals.

"This is going to be amazing for you, Jane." Erik said softly to her. "You deserve every opportunity."

Jane wrapped her arms tightly around him and he hugged her back just as fiercely. They released each other and Jane smiled her thanks at him. Erik moved to shake Thor's hand and Jane gave Darcy and Ian less intense hugs.

"Take care of her for us." Erik told Thor.

"You have my word." Thor said.

He looked at Jane and she gave him a nod. He pulled her against his side and used mjölnir to fly them to the rooftop. The Bifröst began to open, swirling around them, and Jane gripped Thor more tightly as they lifted from the ground. She tried to look down to see Earth fade away, but it was too difficult to do with the gravitational forces.

~.~.~

It was midday when Heimdall greeted them in the Observatory due to the time differences between realms.

"I brought the horses like you asked." Heimdall said to Thor. He looked at Jane and gave her a smile—a rare gift from Heimdall. "Jane, I am most happy to help you however I can. Please do not hesitate to come and speak with me whenever you'd like. I will keep a close watch over your mortals."

"Thank you, Heimdall. That's very kind of you." Jane said and then added with a laugh, "I might be by all the time though."

Heimdall inclined his head and Thor thanked him as well before leading Jane to the waiting horses.

"This one is Glenr." Thor said, giving Jane the reins to the massive white steed.

"For me?" Jane asked.

"Yes, he's all yours." Thor smiled. "A welcome gift."

Jane nodded and then looked up at the horse. She hadn't ridden a horse since summer camp when she was nine and she was uncertain what exactly to do next.

"Let me help you." Thor said, putting his hands on her waist and lifting her onto the saddle. Jane swung a leg over the horse, glad she'd changed back into jeans before they left Earth, and settled herself into the saddle. Thor adjusted the stirrups and held the reins up to Jane. She waited uneasily while he mounted the silver horse next to hers with grace. He made a clicking noise with his tongue and both of the horses began to tölt. Jane clung to the reins and tightened her thighs' grip on the saddle. The gait was smooth though and she soon eased into it as they moved quickly over the Rainbow Bridge that led to the city of Asgard. Once inside the city, Thor stayed on the horse and led them around the palace to a side entrance that led most directly to their quarters. While Jane had always been given a guest room when she visited, she had only used it while Thor was away for business. They dismounted and a servant took the horses from them.

"I've had them set up a suite for you in my quarters." Thor said as they walked inside. "A private dressing chamber as well as a study. I considered giving you your own drawing room, but I was unsure if you would want it."

Jane shook her head and said, "Who would I entertain?"

"Well, you may always use my drawing room or parlor as needed." Thor said. He stopped walking and turned to Jane. "Listen, I know this is all a bit sudden for you, but as Prince of Asgard, I have obligations. Now that you are here as more than my guest, you will share in those obligations."

"What type of obligations?" Jane asked.

"We rule a kingdom and protect all the realms. It is not done just at wartime." Thor explained. "I know you do not prefer much company and like to dwell in your own mind, but entertaining people for the sake of making them feel valued and heard is the most critical thing we do at court."

"This makes sense." Jane said. "I can be more sociable."

"Good," Thor smiled and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "I know I will be able to count on you. Everyone already holds a fondness for you. It will be easy."

Jane smiled and wondered if Heimdall counted as someone she had to entertain. She desperately wanted to pick his brain about how the Bifröst worked, not to mention get more insight to the other star systems.

A guard entered the room they were in and bowed to Thor before saying, "Odin wishes to have you both for luncheon in the king's quarters."

Thor nodded to the guard and then looked at Jane with a kind smile.

"And so it begins." He said. "You will find suitable attire in your dressing chamber."

He pointed her towards a section of his quarters she'd never been in before. Jane went inside the open air room that was her study. She placed her satchel on the desk chair and looked out at the private balcony. The Askjafjöll Mountains shimmered purple in the distance, across an inlet of the Ægir Sea. Jane had studied the geography of Asgard in depth on her previous visits, though she had actually been to these mountains when Loki had guided them to Svartalfheim through his secret passageway hidden within them.

A grief she usually managed to repress began to overcome her as she remembered Loki's heroics from that day. She tore herself from the vista and opened the doors to her dressing chamber. It was well-lit by fire torches and a high lamp made from orka. Orka was what the Æsir used to power any 'magic' that didn't come from their lifeforce. Jane did not know precisely what the substance was; only that it was considered a critical energy import and was only found on Jötunheim. A single lamp of orka could light a room much larger than this one, and Jane knew that no one outside of royalty could afford such unnecessary access to this level of luxury. She felt a little guilty herself having it in her own chamber.

Jane took in her dressing choices. Two blue gowns, one silvery grey, and one in burgundy made up the casual dress options. Only the burgundy one was new to her since the last time she was on Asgard. She decided to go with it for their lunch with Odin. There was a light knock on the wall. Jane realized it was a hidden door that was the servants' entrance and she called, "Come in."

Her lady's maid, Abigæl, entered with a basket of hair products.

"My lady," she said, giving Jane a slight bow. This was abnormal and felt extremely formal to Jane.

"How have you been, Abigæl?" Jane asked.

"I have been well. I was pleased to hear of your return. Jóney indicated it was a permanent move?" she replied. Jóney was the head of the ladies maids.

"Yes, that is the case." Jane smiled. "Are you still going to be my lady's maid?"

"It is your decision." Abigæl inclined her head. "I hope I have served you well."

"Of course!" Jane said. "But if you're staying on, you have to promise me one thing."

"Of course, my lady."

"Okay, two things." Jane corrected. "First, no more bowing. Second, no more calling me 'my lady'."

"Forgive me, my lady, but Odin commands it."

"Is Odin here now?" Jane asked.

"The Alfather has ways of knowing, my lady." Abigæl said quietly.

"Very well," Jane said, sensing this was dangerous territory. "Forget I said anything. Earth habits!"

Jane gave an easy laugh and Abigæl relaxed.

"Now, shall we prepare you for luncheon, my lady?"

"Please," Jane said. "I've decided on the burgundy."

"Oh, how lovely. Yes, Irja just finished it. Sif had it commissioned for you weeks ago."

"Sif?" Jane asked as she undressed.

"Yes, my lady. She is really most kind."

Jane smiled and let Abigæl dress her. The first time she dealt with lady's maids was wholly uncomfortable. Jane had felt classist and awkward. Over time and after several horrified looks from maids who thought she was going to strip them of their hard earned jobs in the palace, Jane had acquiesced to the concept. Abigæl was easy going and often direct, which Jane appreciated. In several instances she had steered Jane away from significant cultural faux pas.

Finally Jane was dressed and her hair pinned delicately into a casual Æsir style.

"Perfect!" Jane said. "Thank you."

"My lady." Abigæl bowed and opened the doors to the study so Jane could leave.

Thor was waiting in their common area to escort her to lunch. He wore only a tunic and pants with leather armor wristbands. She could tell his hair had been brushed. He paid her appearance a compliment and led the way to the King's Quarters. Jane felt somewhat smothered by the formality of everything. It was not the Asgard she had come to know and love. She wondered what it meant if Odin was behind it all. _Does Odin mean for me to join their family?_ She wondered. It seemed like a huge leap from his initial opinion of her.

As the guards showed them into Odin's private dining chamber, he rose to greet them. His ravens, Munnin and Huginn, sat on their golden perches next to his place at the table.

"Thor, my son, and Jane Foster! I trust your journey was smooth?" he said.

"Yes, no issues." Thor replied.

"Please sit." Odin said. "We have some matters to discuss."

Jane and Thor took their seats at the gold inlaid table and a servant immediately poured them wine. Odin raised his goblet and took a sip, indicating it was okay for Jane and Thor to do so—mostly Jane, as Thor was essentially Odin's equal.

After they had drank some wine, Odin asked Jane, "What do you think of it?"

"The wine?" Jane clarified. "It's delicious. Is it Vanir?"

The Vanir were famous for their wineries. Thor had explained to her months ago before he took his trip to Vanaheim.

"It is indeed." Odin smiled. "And do you know what else comes from Vanaheim?"

Jane racked her brain for delicacies or anything of value that she had read about. Finally she shook her head apologetically.

"The völva." Odin said.

"Father?" Thor said, his voice cautious.

"What is völva?" Jane asked.

"It is a form of magic that is linked to prophecy." Odin explained.

"It is sorcery!" Thor said.

Odin fixed him with a hard look.

"Sif just recovered Lorelei for this very thing months ago. Why would you wish to seek this out?" Thor asked.

Jane wondered who Lorelei was.

"I am aware of the task I sent Sif to Midgard for." Odin said in a strong tone. "What I hope to discover in Vanaheim is who else is still practicing. I wish to know for our protection. In times of peace, idleness often turns to evil."

"The devil finds work for idle hands." Jane murmured.

"Precisely," Odin said.

"How exactly do you suggest we discover the practitioners?" Thor asked, still clearly unhappy with the overall mission.

"Make friends. Gain trust. There is a reason I am sending only Jane and Sif." Odin said and looked at Jane, "Women tend to speak more freely when not in the company of men. No völva practitioner was ever male."

"Jane and Sif? Alone?" Thor said in an incredulous tone. Jane could tell his voice was starting to rise with anger.

Odin looked to Thor and said, "Yes. They leave next week. Valfreyja will host them."

"So, I am to be a spy?" Jane asked, partially to diffuse the imminent argument between Odin and Thor and partially to clarify what exactly Odin expected her to do.

"Think of it as gathering data if it makes you uneasy." Odin said. "How is your Vanir coming along? Have you been using the book I gave you last time you were here?"

"Um, not very well." Jane said, slightly embarrassed. "It's a very difficult language."

"Well, spend this week working with Thor on it. You will get nowhere without some listening skills."

"Father, I'm afraid my Vanir is very poor as well." Thor said.

"Yes, Loki was the one who ever learned anything." Odin said distantly. He looked to Jane and said, "Work with Fandral. He has... a way with foreign tongues."

"Yes sir." Jane said, inclining her head.

"Now, let us enjoy this luncheon before it grows warm." Odin said.

At his words the servers laid out platters of cured meats and cheeses along with a bowl of what looked to Jane like grapes. Jane was normally expected to dish up first, but today Odin did so.

"In the absence of guests, we serve by rank. You are no longer a guest, Jane." Odin explained to her. "I trust Thor told you of the oath ceremony?"

Jane shook her head and looked at Thor.

"Father, she's only just arrived." Thor said.

"Hardly!" Odin said. "I cannot have her in any confidence if she has not sworn fealty and taken the Æsir Oath."

"Would this make me Æsir?" Jane asked.

Odin looked momentarily horrified at the suggestion before composing himself.

Thor had to explain, "No, you remain mortal. The oath merely makes you an Asgard citizen."

Jane nodded. She would have to get full details from him later on what this meant.

"The ceremony is tomorrow." Odin said.

His tone indicated the topic was closed for discussion and Jane could sense Thor's fuming as he served himself lunch. Jane picked absentmindedly at the remaining options, her mind racing with questions. No one spoke for the remainder of the extremely uncomfortable lunch, and after the plates were cleared Thor stood up abruptly.

"Thank you for lunch, Father." He said tersely before looking at Jane saying, "Let's go."

Jane stood quickly to follow Thor as he walked briskly out the door.

~.~.~

"I have a million questions." Jane burst out once they were finally back in their quarters.

"I know." Thor said. "As do I. Why is Father pushing so much on the Vanaheim mission? Why involve you?"

"He said why." Jane pointed out.

"Sif is female, too." Thor replied. Jane felt a lump forming in her stomach as Thor continued, "And she is much more capable than you if it came to a fight."

Jane tried not to be insulted. What he said was true, even if it felt more like Thor's meaning stopped at the words 'more capable than you'.

"Maybe that's it? He doesn't want to appear as posing a threat?" Jane said.

Thor contemplated the idea, finally nodding in agreement and saying, "That makes sense."

"What is Vanaheim like?" Jane asked to change the topic. "I've only read about it."

"It's beautiful." Thor said. "People claim the Vanir to be the most striking of all the realms. These people have not met you, of course."

Jane rolled her eyes.

"You will see for yourself next week." Thor said. "I must warn you though, the people can be a bit... odd."

"Odd?" Jane asked.

"Free spirited." Thor said.

Jane raised her eyebrows and Thor blushed.

"What?"

"It is crude, Jane. Too crass to say."

"Now you have to tell me!" Jane exclaimed. _Why was this so embarrassing?_ She wondered.

"They often have orgies at Vanir Court." Thor finally said.

"Orgies?" Jane repeated. Concern started to flare in her, "Will I be expected to participate?"

"No!" Thor said as if it were a forbidden idea. "No, they would never force anything."

Jane let out a breath of relief and Thor laughed.

"I just didn't want you to be shocked when you got there. It's a part of their culture."

"Right, thanks." Jane gave an awkward nod.

"So, you should probably practice your Vanir. If you bring back anything of use, it will likely gain you favor with Odin."

"Do you think so?" Jane asked in a doubtful tone. "I'm pretty sure he hates me."

"I assure you, he does not." Thor said. "Why else would he invite you here to live? Ask you to take the Æsir Oath?"

"But I still won't _be_ Æsir." Jane protested.

"There are ways." Thor said distantly.

Jane knew this already. She had spent so much time reading about the realms—in particular Asgard—she sometimes wondered if she knew more about them than Thor.

"So, this oath," Jane started. "What exactly is involved?"

"Not much." Thor shrugged. "You swear fealty to the king and offer your protection of the realms to Asgard. Then there's a feast."

"But what does it mean? Am I renouncing my ties to Earth or something?"

"No of course not! It's just words, Jane. You already are faithful to us." Thor said reassuringly. He pulled her into an embrace and added, "The only real difference is that you'll have to start calling Odin your king when addressing him."

Jane frowned into Thor's chest. Despite how advanced Asgard was, the concept of having a king still felt medieval to her.

"Not interrupting the beginning of something, I hope." Fandral's voice said into the drawing room.

Thor released Jane and greeted his friend.

"Welcome back, Jane." Fandral said to her with his easy smile. "I was told you require my services for a clandestine mission."

Jane laughed and nodded. "Odin says you're good with foreign tongues."

"The scoundrel!" Fandral grinned and Jane blushed immensely, finally getting the joke. That combined with the orgies and she turned a deeper shade of red.

"Oh god, sorry. I didn't mean..." she said.

"Good grief, Jane, it's only a joke!" Fandral laughed. "Pull yourself together so we can practice your Vanir."

"I will leave you two to your work." Thor laughed and left the room towards the exit of their quarters. Jane wondered if he was going to see Sif, but quickly scolded herself for thinking it.

"How much do you already know?" Fandral asked her as he sat next to her on the couch.

"Some, I mean basic vocabulary and some of the grammar." Jane said. "Jötunn is so much easier to learn."

"Yes, but the Jötnar are much less pleasurable." Fandral grinned. "Well, let's practice a conversation."

Jane nodded and Fandral switched to Vanir. He was nearly flawless at it and Jane became worried she would never catch up. After two hours with Fandral though, she felt better. When he said, "You're really progressing fast. You sure you're not actually Vanir?" to her, she felt even better.

"Doubt I'd be treated like a second class citizen if I was." Jane said.

"Oh, you are not." Fandral said.

"Tell that to Odin." Jane muttered.

Fandral waved his hand, but said nothing. His eyes held concern, or was it fear? _What is going on? Why the sudden fear of Odin from everyone?_ Jane wondered.

"Fandral," Jane said quietly. "Has something changed since I was last here?"

"No, my lady." Fandral said, but he was subtly nodding yes.

Just then a guard entered the room.

"Lady Jane, Heimdall requires your immediate presence." The guard said.

Jane looked at Fandral. His expression had darkened some and he whispered, "Go." in Vanir.


	4. Chapter 3

_**Songs for this chapter: "Shadows of Loki" by Brian Tyler, "Before" by Vök**_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

When Jane got to the Observatory, Heimdall met her at the front. He led her inside and they stood in silence for a long moment looking out at the stars.

At last Heimdall said, "We all grieve differently, Jane. Did you know that Frigga was Vanir?"

"No," Jane was surprised. She didn't realize the Æsir royalty would intermarry.

"Yes, she was born in Vanaheim to a noble family. Decades later, Vanaheim's ruler Njörðr finally had children, the twins Valfreyja and Freyr." Heimdall paused for a long time and Jane wondered if that was all he was going to say. Then he began again, "The story goes that Frigga was betrothed to Odin from her birth and when they met as children they fell immediately in love. When Valfreyja was born alongside her twin brother, the Vanir monarchy wanted their own daughter married into Asgard, so they broke the betrothal of Frigga. As recompense to Frigga's family, they promised her their son Freyr."

Jane waited, but Heimdall said nothing more. Finally she had to know, "What happened?"

"Frigga taught herself true magic so she could marry Odin." Heimdall said simply.

"The kind she used to conceal me from Malekith?" Jane asked.

Heimdall's lips curved into a subtle smile before he said, "That very kind."

Jane nodded, digesting the information. "What happened to Freyr?"

"He tried to marry the Jötunn Skaði, but she detested him and fled the engagement. Now it is rumored that Valfreyja seeks her revenge on Frigga by marrying Freyr to Sif." Heimdall frowned before adding, "Frigga and Sif were very close. Almost like mother-daughter."

"Is this why Odin is sending Sif with me to Vanaheim?" Jane asked.

Heimdall looked at her sharply and his golden eyes seemed to stare through her flesh and into her soul.

"Jane," Heimdall's voice said, but he did not move his lips. "I have linked our minds so that I can see what happens to you on Vanaheim. They cloak many things on that realm from my sight. You were correct in sensing a change here. I fear it is tied to Odin and prophecy. Despite the sacrifice of his eye, he seems to have lost his gift of Mimir. Yet I fear another gift of influence has been gained. Do not speak of this to anyone. Not Thor. Not Sif. Your mind is the only one I can still fully see on Asgard."

Hemidall's voice stopped and Jane blinked a few times, as if something was caught in her eyelash.

"Eat this." Heimdall said out loud.

"What is it?" Jane asked, taking the tiny glowing pill.

"Orka" Heimdall said.

As soon as Jane swallowed it, the irritation in her eye went away.

"Thanks" she said.

"I will see you at the oath ceremony." Heimdall said. "Oh, and Erik says he wants you to build a two-way communication system."

"Does he?" Jane smiled. "I really don't need that falling into the hands of Director Hill. But it's an interesting idea."

"You would have to ask Odin for help. He maintains the design of the Bifröst, not me." Heimdall said.

Jane frowned. That complicated things.

"Thor is looking for you." Heimdall said.

Jane considered asking him if Thor had been with Sif or not, but she decided not to abuse their trust.

"Thank you." Heimdall said.

"Oh," Jane said, realizing her mind was directly linked to his now. Even her thoughts were not private.

"I will keep your confidence, Jane. I always have before." Heimdall said and gave her a nod.

"Thanks," Jane managed a smile. "I'm gonna go find Thor, I guess."

Heimdall laughed but said nothing as Jane left the Observatory specifically intent on going to the library to look up Mimir. She'd often wished in life that people could just be inside of her brain so she wouldn't have to explain everything, but now that someone actually was, she was not a big fan of it. She mounted Glenr and rode back to the city, straight to the library.

~.~.~

The Æsir library was massive. Every librarian knew her by now, but today they of course felt the need to bow and murmur "my lady' to her. She threw them smiles as she beelined it to the indexes. The primary index system was by realm. A model of each planetoid was suspended in the central atrium and you used Æsir 'magic' to call down the realm you were hoping to learn more about. Once called, the index was alphabetical by title in common tongue. Since titles were the core categorical structure, they lacked creativity and simply were what the book's topic was. For instance, the books about the Æsir-Vanir War were all entitled Æsir-Vanir War – Volume I, II, III and so forth. Since a tiny portion of that war was fought on Vanaheim, that volume itself could be found in the Vanaheim index.

But where would she find 'Mimir'?

Heimdall's voice said, "Jötunheim" in her head, causing Jane to jump and her eye to itch. She looked around to make sure no one saw her get frightened by essentially nothing and then called Jötunheim down. It was harder for her because she did not have a lifeforce as a mortal, so she had to use orka to pull the realm indexes to her. The lifeforce was the basic Æsir magic, which everyone here was born with and gave them their long lives, dense bodies, and immunity to Earth diseases. To get lifeforce would be the only way Jane could become like them. The only way to be Thor's equal.

There was only one route Jane knew of to lifeforce, which was to eat Iðunn's apple. The average lifespan of an Æsir was 4,500 years, but because they valued dying in battle so much, they had an orchard of apples to restore the consumer's lifeforce for another lifespan. This way the nobles could die literally only in battle.

The orchards were hidden on Asgard and only accessible to Iðunn herself and whoever was the ruler of Asgard at that time. If Jane wanted to become Æsir, something she had not truly decided, Odin would have to give her the apple.

She let out an annoyed sigh at the thought and spun the massive Jötunheim planetoid until she came to the letter 'M'. There was one book called _Mimir_. She memorized the call number, which was actually a series of symbols and not numbers like on Earth, and went to retrieve the book.

It was in a very public area of the library right near the entrance, so she brought it to one of the quieter spaces that she often retreated to. She drew her legs into the comfortable sitting chair and opened the small volume.

It was a basic history, stunted and full of drawings, like most of the Jötunheim collection, and she skimmed until she came to a part that stopped discussing the great deeds and victories the Æsir had over the Jötnar and started to explain what the heck Mimir actually was. Jane swore that based on the library's accounts, no Jötnar could even be alive given how many the Æsir had claimed to slaughter. She vaguely wondered if Jötunheim had a library and if it too contained so much propaganda. She remembered Heimdall was in her head and thought an apology in his direction. He gave no response and she wondered if he had mentally checked out for the time being. He only wanted to see Vanaheim anyway. She focused back on the book.

_"Mimir is the well at the base of Jötunheim under the root of Yggdrasil. It is one of the Three Wells and gives its drinker the eternal ability to see the looms of the Norns who weave beside it."_

_So Odin can see fate._ Jane realized. _Or he could._

She returned the book to its shelf, sensing that with all this talk of the völva it was unwise to be caught reading this topic. No sooner had she replaced it then she heard Thor's voice calling her. She spun to face him, plastering a smile on her face.

"Hey!" she said. "I was just about to come find you."

"We need to practice your oath for tomorrow." Thor said, taking her hand into his.

"You said it was just words?"

"Spoken in front of a lot of people!" Thor pointed out.

"Oh." Jane hadn't thought about that part.

"You'll be fine." Thor assured her. "As long as you practice."

Jane let Thor lead her back to their quarters, her mind completely uninterested in oath taking practice.

Fandral was still there when they arrived, along with Volstagg and Sif. The group was drinking wine and in the middle of a friendly debate as Jane and Thor entered the room.

"Here's Thor, he'll know!" Fandral said.

"He hadn't arrived yet!" Sif protested.

"Come now, what is the wager?" Thor smiled, dropping Jane's hand to pour himself some wine.

"Fandral claims he killed thirty men in the first ten minutes of the Esja Forest Battle. But I know it to be impossible because the masses did not arrive until after you were there." Sif said.

"Surely Fandral could've killed so many so quickly?" Thor remarked, a playful grin on his face.

"It is not a matter of that!" Sif protested. "There were simply not that many men to kill."

"I remember the Esja Forest Battle quite well, Sif." Thor said, putting a hand on Fandral's shoulder before continuing, "And he certainly killed at least thirty men in the first ten minutes."

"You weren't even there!" Sif exclaimed.

"Not to bring it down, guys," Jane said. "But Sif's right. I read about this battle last time I was here and, Thor, you didn't get there until the second day."

Volstagg rolled with laughter.

"See!" Sif said and then gave Jane a nod, "Thank you. Finally some justice around here."

"Whoo!" Fandral hooted through laughter. "Your mortal is worse than Loki was. All reading and no action."

"Fandral," Thor scolded. "Apologize."

"I'm only joking, Jane." Fandral smiled at her and held out his glass of wine. "Here, have some. It'll be good practice for Vanaheim."

Jane took the glass and wiped the rim somewhat dramatically before saying in an explanatory tone, "I don't want the germs of _every_ foreign tongue."

The group burst into laughter at this remark and Jane took a healthy swig of the Vanir wine. It was smooth like a pinot noir and she easily finished off the remaining portion before pouring herself another glass.

Fandral helped himself to one as well given that Jane now possessed his, and Jane settled next to him on the couch.

"Honestly, Jane, and don't tell Thor," he began in a volume they could all hear. "But no one could be worse than Loki."

"No?" Jane said. She looked away from Fandral towards the open doorway to her study and added, "I thought Loki was very brave, actually."

"Ha!" Fandral exclaimed.

Volstagg snorted, causing him to choke on his wine and begin coughing.

"Jane, you only knew him for a short time." Sif said quietly, trying to give Jane some comfort against the boys' reactions.

Jane gave her a weak smile and then looked at Thor. He met her eyes and looked away. They had only once talked about Loki's death. In some ways Jane was glad. Her version of events surely differed from his and the reality she now lived with was that Loki—not Thor—had saved her life on Svartalfheim.

Thor instead would only speak of older, fonder memories of Loki. All of them stemmed from before Thor had met Jane. Anything Jane knew of Loki from the time of Thor's banishment until she met him on Asgard had been explained in pieces by a drunken Fandral. Fandral held a particular disdain for Loki, Jane had noticed, but also an enduring fascination. As if he needed to solve the mystery that was Loki.

Jane set down her wine glass and said to Thor, "Should we practice the oath?"

"Yes, of course." He said, smiling faintly, still clearly lost in some old memory of Loki. He disappeared briefly to his chambers.

"Did you guys have to do this?" Jane asked the group.

"No, Æsir are born into it." Volstagg said. He leaned over to grab some cured meat from the platter on the table. It looked like leftovers of what they'd had for lunch.

"Here are the words." Thor said, laying a piece of parchment in Jane's lap.

Jane recognized Sif's handwriting immediately and gave her a brief smile of thanks, which Sif returned. Jane realized that she had been right to think Thor had gone to see Sif, but only because his handwriting was so illegible. She began to read the words on the parchment.

_I, Jane Foster, daughter of Midgard, hereby offer my protection to the Nine Realms in all my capacities and do solemnly swear my allegiance to Asgard and its prosperity. I pledge my fealty to Odin Borsson, King of Asgard and Protector of the Nine Realms._

"Seems straightforward enough." Jane said, looking up at Thor who had sat on the couch across the table from her.

"Good," he smiled at her. "Now practice it for us."

"In front of everyone?" Jane said, slightly anxious. She considered public speaking one of the worst activities to exist and would prefer to practice alone or just with Thor.

"There will be a thousand times as many people tomorrow." Thor said.

"You're the first mortal to take the oath." Fandral said, nudging her knee with his own. "It's a bit of a spectacle."

"Fandral, honestly, she's nervous enough as it is." Sif said. "Can't you just learn to keep your mouth shut sometimes!"

"Okay," Jane said and took another swig of wine. She read from the parchment, stumbling on a few words, 'fealty' in particular.

"Well done." Thor said. "Now try again, but without reading from the parchment the whole time. You'll need to memorize it by tomorrow."

Jane nodded, drank more wine, and said it again.

"Very good!" Odin said, entering the drawing room unannounced.

Everyone stood quickly and bowed. Odin waved his hand to put them at ease and looked directly at Jane, "I would rather you practice your Vanir than the Æsir Oath."

"Then I will practice my Vanir." Jane replied to Odin in Vanir.

Sif's eyes widened at Jane's lack of propriety and Jane could see Thor tense up in her peripheral. Odin cocked his head slightly, maintaining his intense stare at Jane, and then walked effortlessly to her. She inclined her head into an immediate bow. Sif put an arm across Thor's midsection to stop him from leaping across the table.

Once in front of her, Odin's hand moved over Jane's cheek and his index finger hooked under her chin, forcing her to look up at him. Her heart pounded with fear. She had never been this close to Odin before. He smelled differently than she'd expected, not like a cloying incense of clove or sandalwood, but more like melting snow on an alpine meadow or the wet bark of an ancient fir. His scent was familiar to her, but she could not place why.

"Perhaps you are not as worthless as I thought." Odin said to her in Vanir.

Jane said nothing, but held the piercing gaze his single blue eye.

"You spoke of Loki earlier." Odin said in common tongue, still touching Jane's chin. "Why?"

"I said that he was brave." Jane said, her voice trembling only slightly.

"Bravery was not a trait Loki embraced." Odin said wryly, dropping his hand from Jane and turning away.

"You don't have to embrace a trait to find it within yourself." Jane said.

Odin turned back to her sharply, studying her expression before assessing her body language.

"No." he said. "You may make a true Asgardian after all, Jane Foster."

Jane fought to keep her smile from stretching beyond a subtle movement.

After a moment Odin turned to leave, stating, "Thor, I need you." as he went.

Thor looked at Jane with a bewildered, but somewhat impressed expression before following Odin from the drawing room.

Everyone sat once they were gone. Jane slid onto the soft cushions feeling somewhat out of her body. She could feel Fandral's arm around her shoulder, rubbing it purposefully, as if to snap her back to reality.

Finally Jane said, "Oh my god."

Everyone laughed lightly, almost in an exhale of tension.

"You have a death wish, my lady." Volstagg said.

"Yeah," Jane breathed.

"I don't know," Fandral said, removing his arm from her shoulder. "Odin seemed quite taken with her."

"Fandral!" Sif said, sounding disgusted.

"Family trait?" Fandral teased.

"Fandral!" Jane exclaimed, pushing him away from her.

"Hey, I speak Vanir. I know what he said to her." Fandral said.

"I too speak Vanir." Sif said. "Perhaps Jane will prefer to practice with me, given your propensity for crudeness."

Jane could think of nothing more awkward, but she nodded.

"It would be helpful since we'll be there together." Jane said.

"Sif only speaks formal Vanir." Fandral said. "If you want to collect all the dirt, you need me."

"I do not think Jane wishes to imagine how dirty you are." Sif teased.

"What about Hogun?" Jane asked, ignoring the jabs. "Isn't he from Vanaheim?"

"Yes, but he will not be at the palace when we visit. He is needed with his family." Sif said.

"No, I mean, why can't he spy for us?" Jane said.

"The völva are women." Sif reminded her. "Besides, Hogun is not much of a conversationalist."

"Then why not bring Fandral? He speaks Vanir and enjoys Vanir women." Jane said.

"Conflict of interest." Fandral said and winked. "If they learned I was spying, they'd never let me back in their orgies."

Jane rolled her eyes.

"Jane, I am sure Odin has good reason for only sending us to Vanaheim." Sif said. "I would not continue to second guess it."

Jane smiled warily and drank more wine. It was in her nature to second guess everything, no matter how clear it was. That was science. A constant questioning of everything. Asgard was not full of scientists though. She wondered, and not for the first time, if it would be more difficult to fit in here than on Earth.

* * *

><p>Sif intended to stay only until Thor returned from his meeting with Odin, but after the wine ran out, Fandral and Volstagg left, and practicing Vanir with Jane quickly grew old. As the hours ticked by, she could sense Jane wanted to be alone.<p>

"Thank you for hosting me so long." Sif said standing and smoothing out her dress.

"I'll let Thor know you were waiting for him." Jane said.

"Oh, but I was not." Sif said quickly, shocked at Jane's perception.

"Of course, sorry." Jane replied as quickly. "Thanks for the Vanir practice."

"Of course, any time." Sif said.

They smiled and bowed to each other before Sif left the room. She hurried to her own quarters, wishing to bathe and drink some water. She felt foolish for staying so late and was admonishing herself when an arm pulled her into a dark corner of the hallway that led to her chambers. She attacked the body of the arm's owner, but he countered her in a way that only Thor knew how to do, so Sif relaxed.

"We need to talk." Thor whispered in her ear.

Sif felt a mixture of panic and lust at the warmth of his breath on her skin. She wondered if he would berate her for staying in his chambers so long. If he knew she had been waiting for him as plainly as Jane seemed to know. A different part of her hoped he would press her body against the nearby column and kiss her in the shadows.

"About?" Sif finally managed to whisper back.

"Vanaheim" Thor whispered. "Where can we go that is private?"

Sif's chambers were in shared quarters with Fandral and Volstagg. Between Fandral's philandering and Volstagg's four young children, they were never private.

"The boats?" Sif suggested. "Or is Odin watching those, too?"

Thor thought it over and shook his head.

"I have an idea though." He said. "Come on."

Sif followed him outside and he called mjölnir to him.

"Hold onto me." He said.

Sif wrapped her arms around his midsection tentatively. She fought to maintain her composure.

"Tighter." Thor urged.

Sif felt a slight thrill move through her at the command. She pulled herself close to his body and he wrapped his free arm around her waist. A moment later they were off the ground, soaring through the crisp night air towards the Askjafjöll range. She looked back towards the palace; its golden spires appeared quite different from the air. On the balcony of Thor's quarters she could see a figure and assumed it was Jane. She knew she should feel guilty, and a small part of her did, but this was Thor's idea, not hers. Besides, what did Odin even mean saying that Jane could be a true Asgardian? Why would he give her such false hope? It seemed only cruel. Jane should not have come to Asgard. She would only get hurt here. It was this thought that triggered the real guilt in Sif, for she was causing part of that hurt for Jane.

Thor landed them at the entrance of a small alcove on the bald face of the main mountain. It could not be reached by climbing. The air was much colder at this altitude and Thor quickly wrapped his cloak around Sif.

"Sorry, I did not think this through in full." He said. "I normally am alone when I come here."

"It is warmer than Jötunheim." Sif smiled and pulled Thor's cloak around her, subtly breathing in his scent from the red fabric. It smelled of his familiar mixture of campfire and freshly polished metal.

Thor laughed and said, "Everywhere is warmer than that dreadful realm."

He ushered Sif into the alcove, which was not large enough to be called a cave, stating, "This will at least get us out of the wind."

Once Sif was tucked safely in the back of the alcove, Thor looked at her with an expression of extreme anxiety.

"What is wrong?" Sif asked, alarmed.

"I need you to promise me something." He said.

"Of course,"

"Protect Jane on Vanaheim." Thor said.

"Of course I will. Is that not the reason I am going?" Sif said.

"Odin knows, Sif." Thor said.

"How?" Sif whispered. There was only one thing Thor could be referencing, and that was her friendship with Valfreyja. The whole rumor that Valfreyja meant for Sif to marry Freyr had been fabricated by Sif, Thor and Valfreyja. The scheme was meant to draw attention from Freyr's true intention, which was to marry the queen of Jötunheim's teenage daughter, Gerðr, once she came of age. Valfreyja knew the Jötnar would never agree to a union with Freyr without coercion, especially after the ordeal with Skaði.

Thor saw the alliance of those two realms as the best way to avoid future wars that Asgard's warriors in turn would have to go clean up. Sif was happy to help Thor, especially if it meant avoiding battles in Jötunheim.

Sif's friendship with Valfreyja was dangerous though, given that Valfreyja practiced völva on a regular basis. She had shared many prophecies with Sif by now, most of which were troubling. Though, one of them saw a future for her and Thor, which she clung to tightly on lonely nights.

The whole plan had been orchestrated by Thor months ago and its key to success was leaving Odin out in case something went wrong and the Jötnar learned the truth. If Odin was unaware of anything, the plausible deniability would ensure any conflict would stay between Vanaheim and Jötunheim.

"I do not know. Heimdall would not betray us." Thor said. "Odin must have a spy we don't know of."

"A sorceress perhaps?" Sif said. Her looked implied one person.

"Lorelei? She's still imprisoned in the silencer." Thor said, shaking his head.

"Why would he tell you this now?" Sif asked. "What is there to gain with us being aware of a spy?"

"I do not know." Thor said. "I just know that this Vanaheim mission is even more dangerous than we initially thought. I cannot believe he's making Jane go."

Thor was shaking with anger.

"I will protect her, Thor." Sif said softly. "You know you can trust me."

"Yes, I know." He said. His voice was calmer than moments before. "Jane cannot know any of this."

"Of course." Sif said.

"Sif," Thor said and moved closer to her.

She looked up at him. His face was close enough to easily kiss.

"I am worried for you." Thor said.

"You worry for my safety in Vanaheim?" Sif smiled. "I am Asgard's best warrior, in case you'd forgotten."

"I had not." Thor laughed.

"Come now, let's get back before someone notices we are gone." Sif said.

Her hand had moved to Thor's chest as she spoke and he covered it with his own. Sif held her breath for a moment as Thor's face lingered close to hers. He then shook his head slightly and moved away. Sif let out her breath and Thor released her hand. She gave him back his cloak.

"Yes, we should go." He said.

He wrapped his arm around her waist and she embraced him again. Moments later they back in the outer palace and untangling their arms.

"Goodnight, Sif." Thor said. "And thank you."

"Goodnight." Sif said.

She turned to go to her chambers, the opposite direction of Thor's, and felt colder here than she had on the mountain, even though the air was mild.


	5. Chapter 4

_Author's Note: Sorry for the delays in release. Real life got in the way of fun life and I had to work too many hours to have the time/energy to get this chapter in a solid place for posting. I should be back in the swing of regular posting now though! Thanks for your patience and support, readers._

_**Songs for this chapter: "The 2nd Law: Isolated System" by Muse; "The Throne Is Mine" by Ramin Djawadi**_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

Jane took a deep breath in an attempt to ease her nerves. She and Sif stood just outside the entrance to Iðavöllr Hall, commonly known as the Æsir Court, awaiting their cue to enter the Oath Ceremony. Thor was already inside alongside Odin on the throne's podium. Per tradition, an Asgard warrior would escort Jane into the hall and up to the throne's podium where she would take her oath. Jane would have preferred Fandral to be her escort, but Sif had volunteered and Thor agreed, and that had been that.

"You will be fine." Sif said in a confident voice. "You know this oath perfectly and you only need Odin to be able to hear you. We are all here for you should you require assistance."

Jane looked at her. The room's firelight enhanced Sif's features and Jane took in the contours of her face and the luster of her dark curls. It was not the first instance Jane recognized Sif's full beauty, but the lighting particularly enhanced it in that moment. Jane wondered why Thor paid her any interest when he had Sif right in front of him every day. This thought stemmed from a true curiosity on Jane's end, rather than her own personal insecurities of inferiority.

"Thanks," Jane managed to say with a nervous smile.

Sif rubbed Jane's upper arm a couple of times to comfort her, the way she'd seen Fandral do with success before. Jane looked pale still, even in the firelight, but she seemed to be regaining some color with Sif's gesture, so she continued to rub her arm.

"They are ready for you." A guard said to them after entering the room.

"Thank you." Sif said. She turned her attention to Jane. "Focus on Thor during the procession if that will help calm you."

Jane looked ahead towards the closed golden doors and nodded.

The guards opened the doors and the pair of women entered the vast hall. Thousands of Æsir faces turned to stare at them; to stare at Jane. Even most of the ravens had come and stood perched on top of the columns. Jane swallowed, inhaled deeply, and slowly let out her breath.

She and Sif began to walk down the center aisle and Jane looked ahead to find Thor, but he was too far away for her make eye contact with. She instead looked to the crowd, searching for faces she knew. There were many whose smiling faces popped into view and Jane realized she had made quite a few acquaintances while on Asgard. She was perhaps not out of place becoming a citizen of this realm. Abigæl's smile stood out from the crowd and Jane gave her an easy smile in return.

Eventually they were close enough for Jane to really see Thor in detail. He smiled at them both and Jane found herself looking towards Odin. Once her eye caught his, she could not look away. His expression was kind, soothing to Jane. For the first time since returning to Asgard she felt safe. Odin did care about her. She had spent enough time with him apart from Thor to know that, even if he often seemed cold and removed. Even if he usually treated her like she did not belong in Asgard and certainly not at his royal son's side. In this moment she felt that Odin wanted her there. He wanted her to take the first major step to becoming Asgardian.

Once they approached the throne, Sif left Jane's side to go join Fandral and Volstagg on the stairs. Thor and Heimdall stood opposite them and Jane looked at them now to find their reassuring smiles. She turned her attention back to Odin and then knelt. In all the versions of this moment she had gone over in her head, this one had never occurred. She never thought she would feel so comfortable, so privileged, to be kneeling and ready to swear fealty. Even the word 'fealty' felt incredibly right to her now. Jane wondered what had changed. Why did she feel so safe with Odin all of the sudden?

_Is this the true power of monarchy?_ She wondered. _The ability to make others feel safe?_

She looked up to Odin who was looking down at her in a piercing way, as if his gaze had never wandered. The high lamps of orka reflected in his eye and the gleam gave him a mischievous air. Jane let out a brief smile and then become solemn again, awaiting Odin's direction.

"Jane Foster of Midgard, you come before us today to swear the Æsir Oath?" Odin asked.

"I do." Jane said. Her voice was calm and pronounced.

"Your intentions are true?" Odin asked.

"They are." Jane said.

"Then please proceed." Odin said.

Jane spoke the oath without falter.

After she finished there was brief silence before Odin said, "I, Odin Allfather, proclaim you, Jane Foster, daughter of Midgard, a primary citizen of Asgard."

Shouts of joy and celebration went up from the crowd. Jane stood with a smile wide across her face. She felt right, almost like she was whole. Odin announced the feast, which was the cue that the ceremony had concluded, and Thor rushed to her side.

He hugged her, lifting her slightly off the ground, and whispered, "I'm so proud of you."

The comment left Jane feeling uncomfortable, as if she had never been enough for him before then. She knew that she still was not. She was not Æsir. She was not immortal. Thor's comment left her wondering what he really wanted from her.

Fandral's hug quickly distracted her from this thought. He picked her up easily and spun her around with a laugh.

"Well done!" Fandral said. "Now we can all go eat."

"Volstagg is elated, I'm sure." Jane joked to him.

The small crowd around her all laughed until Odin approached. They quieted and parted to let him pass, all but Thor bowing as they did.

"Jane," Odin said as he approached her. "I am happy to have you as an Asgard citizen."

"I am happy to be an Asgard citizen, my king." Jane said and bowed.

Odin looked at her in a meaningful way and Jane could not help but feel like she had seen that look before, but not from Odin. It was the same look Loki had given her after she punched him the face. It was a look that she read as, _While our goals may be different, we will benefit each other in the end._

Odin put his hand on her shoulder and said, "You are now a daughter of Asgard, too. Do not take such a privilege lightly."

"I would never." Jane said to him.

"I know." Odin said, his mouth creeping into a small smile that almost mimicked a smirk. He looked out to the crowd, his hand still on Jane's shoulder, and spoke from his diaphragm, "Now, let us all join the feast in Valhalla Hall."

* * *

><p>Jane had spent the rest of the week mostly with Fandral and Sif speaking and listening to Vanir. She now stood with travel bag in hand alongside Sif in the Observatory, awaiting Heimdall to open the Bifröst to Vanaheim.<p>

"Do not attempt to communicate with me while there." Heimdall thought into her mind. "Just let me observe what is truly happening in the Vanir Court."

Jane thought back an affirmation.

"Good luck to you both." Heimdall said out loud once the Bifröst was fully powered.

Jane took a deep breath and looked at Sif, whose expression was stern but hinted at anxiety. Jane wondered what they were getting into. Orgies and prophecy, from the sounds of it, but what else? If Sif was worried, then danger surely awaited them on the other end of this portal.

The Bifröst took hold of her body, thrusting her through space-time in a direction she had never been before. In what felt like a single second later, they were landing at Vanaheim's official entry gate. Sif explained all visitors would first pass through the gate before being admitted into Fólkvangr, which was the capital province and the most fortified part of Vanaheim.

"This way." Sif said, walking towards the massive wooden gates that were inlaid with silver.

The gatekeeper asked their identities and purpose. Sif responded for them both and the gatekeeper, who was clearly expecting them, quickly bowed and opened the thick gates.

The landscape shifted dramatically once they were inside the gates. Outside, a dense forest had surrounded the portal, but here crop fields and vineyards stretched for miles. If Fólkvangr was considered rather small compared to rest of Vanaheim, Jane couldn't fathom the extent of the realm's vastness.

"Jane, come, we must ride to the palace with haste." Sif said. "Valfreyja's welcome feast begins in less than an hour. She will not forgive tardiness."

Jane looked to find Sif was not referencing a horse, but rather a boar of immense size.

"Um," Jane didn't even know what to say.

Sif rolled her eyes and grabbed Jane roughly, throwing her onto the back of the boar. As Jane clung tightly to the creature attempting to balance herself, Sif climbed on swiftly behind her with their bags in hand.

"Can you scratch Otta just behind his shoulder blade?" Sif asked Jane.

Jane reached out her hand and lightly scratched the boar in what looked to be the space behind its shoulder blade. The boar wiggled a little and let out a huff.

"Harder, Jane." Sif said. "With Otta, you have to mean it."

Jane scratched as hard as she could and the boar lurched forward into a run. Jane let out a scream as she began to slide off the side with the sudden change in speed, but Sif's arm caught her and pulled her upright.

The wind raced through their hair and Jane attempted to relax into Sif's embrace, but her breastplate was too hard to yield much comfort. She focused instead on the landscape of rolling hills around them. It smelled sweetly of soil and ripening fruit. As they went along she noticed more and more birds in the sky. They had large wingspans and glided rather than flapping their wings.

"Falcons." Sif said close to her ear so the noise would not be lost in the wind. "They are in some ways similar to the ravens on Asgard. But they are guards rather than messengers, keeping watch over the harvest."

"When will the harvest be ready?" Jane asked.

"The First Harvest Moon is four fortnights away." Sif said.

Jane had read about First Harvest Moon, as well as the Second Harvest Moon. They marked the beginning and end of the harvest on Vanaheim and were celebrated by all the realms. Generally the celebrations included excessive consumption of Vanir wine.

After ten more minutes of similar scenery, the boar skidded to a sudden halt. Sif tightened her grip around Jane so she would not go flying forward and then dismounted. She placed their bags on the ground so she could help Jane down. As Jane slid from the boar, she could not understand why they had stopped here. The road remained the same, meandering ahead into the horizon of crop fields. There was nothing around them but fields.

As she turned to ask Sif for clarification, she stopped mid-spin when the boar shape shifted into a gorgeous man right in front of her eyes. His jawline and cheekbones resembled a well-lit and precisely edited photo of a model and the bands of clothing he wore showed off more of his chiseled muscles than they made a fashion statement.

"Hello, I am Otta." The man said to Jane as he leaned down to kiss her on each cheek. "Welcome to Fólkvangr."

"Hi," Jane stammered. The caress of his lips lingered on her cheeks and Jane felt a warmth flow throughout her insides, as if she had drank some brandy.

"Otta, this is Jane Foster of Midgard." Sif said. "Thank you for giving us a ride."

"It is ever my pleasure to be ridden by beautiful women such as yourselves, Sif and Jane Foster of Midgard." Otta smiled at them and then leaned to kiss Sif's cheeks as well. "Come, let us settle you into your chambers."

Otta took their bags from the ground and led them through an orchard of peach trees towards what appeared to Jane to be another crop field. Otta began whispering in formal Vanir, but the words made no sense to her. Suddenly a burst of blinding purple light flashed all around them, forcing Jane to close her eyes to protect them. When she reopened her eyes, they were standing on the landing of a tall stairwell that led down to what appeared to be the trunk of a massive tree.

"What was that?" Jane asked, staring in shock.

"Vanir Light," Sif said, pushing on Jane's back to make her move forward, down the stairs. "It is the Vanir's form of magic."

"Is this your first journey to Vanaheim, Jane Foster?" Otta asked.

"Yes," Jane said. Finally she mustered the courage to ask, "Do all Vanir shape shift?"

Otta let out a calm laugh before replying, "No, Queen Valfreyja wanted to keep me, so she turned me into a hildisvíni. I used to be a mortal, like yourself."

"What do you mean by keep you?" Jane asked.

Otta turned to her, still walking down the stairwell as if going backwards was no different than forwards for him. His eyes brightened as he told Jane, "I am her lover, of course."

Jane attempted to smile at him as if his comment was comforting. Otta merely winked before turning forwards again. Finally they reached the bottom of the stairs and two ornately sculpted silver doors loomed over them. Otta murmured some words in formal Vanir and the doors opened before him.

Once inside Jane's eyes had to adjust to the lighting, but not because it was dark. The high ceilings were carved wood reliefs, depicting scenes of bountiful harvests, key battles of various Vanir wars, and what seemed to be the apocalypse. They were glowing white, lighting the entire hall.

"Is that one of Ragnarök?" Jane asked.

"You know about Ragnarök?" Otta asked, sounding surprised.

"Jane knows about everything." Sif said. Her voice was kind, but Jane could sense the annoyance in it.

_Does Sif actually think I'm an obnoxious know-it-all?_ Jane wondered with a newfound worry, realizing that perhaps nobody on Asgard even liked her at all.

"How convenient to have her in your company then." Otta said in a voice Jane could not determine to be sarcasm or not. He then addressed her, saying, "Yes, Jane, that relief is of the Vanir-related events of Ragnarök. It serves to remind the Vanir that all things will end so we should embrace living fully in each moment."

"What are the columns made from?" Jane asked, noticing the grand hall's columns all appeared to be made of a different type of wood.

"Each column is made from the timber of the lands of Vanaheim." Otta said. "The Vanir Court showcases all of Vanaheim's assets and treasures as a symbol of unity among our vast lands. The Vanir population is much more diverse than Asgard due to the size of our realm. It is much like Midgard in that regard."

Jane nodded, lost in the splendor of the hall, which seemed to stretch on forever in a downward slope. Sif's hand pressed against her back again, pushing her forward. Otta continued to give an abbreviated tour of the hall then led them through branchlike corridors until they stopped at an open door.

"This will be your chamber, Lady Jane." Otta said as he walked into the room and placed Jane's bag on a wooden platform. "I apologize that it is one of our more basic guest accommodations, so should you require anything during your stay, do not hesitate to request it. Pressing the button next to your bed will ensure assistance finds you. The wardrobe of course features extra clothing for every gender in case you invite someone to stay overnight with you. The bath is just down the hallway, but should you require private bathing chambers, please do let me know."

"I should be fine." Jane said.

"I do hope so." Otta said and gave Jane a warm smile before turning to Sif. "Lady Sif, your chamber is just next door, as requested. I took the liberty of preparing your bedding as you requested it during your last stay here with Thor."

"Thank you, Otta. I appreciate your attention to detail." Sif said. "I believe we should freshen up now however, as Valfreyja expects us all quite soon in Sessrúmnir Hall."

"Indeed she does." Otta said. "I bid you both farewell."

He kissed them both on each cheek again and flitted out of the room.

Sif closed the door and motioned for Jane to come to her side. "This is how the lock works. Do not permit any stranger entry while you're here."

Sif demonstrated the complex locking mechanism and then Jane tried it herself. After she successfully locked and unlocked the door twice, Sif nodded to her.

"Jane," Sif said, giving Jane a serious look. "If you need me, just yell. I will hear you through the wall. Should you be unable to yell, make as much noise as you can."

"Why would I be unable to yell?" Jane asked.

"There is a reason Thor did not want you to come here, Jane." Sif said quietly. "It is unsafe for a mortal to be in Vanaheim."

Jane nodded, accepting that this would be the only explanation she would get.

"We must change for the feast." Sif said in a new tone. "This will be the most formal event, Jane, so wear your best travel gown."

She took her bag and gave a reassuring squeeze to Jane's shoulder before leaving the room, which only made Jane more afraid. Once she was gone, Jane immediately locked the door. It seemed imperative.

_Why didn't Thor explain how dangerous Vanaheim is?_ Jane wondered as she moved her travel bag to the massive, plush bed. As it sank into the mattress, she took in the room's décor in more detail. It was hardly basic for Earth standards. The room looked like a massage room in a fancy island spa, but with a luxury bed. The walls were a dark wood, the Vanir equivalent to a cocobolo or mahogany, and there was a citrusy, floral aromatherapy type of scent in the air. She searched for the source of it, but found no ventilation other than an open window with a view to the peach trees. She tried to put her hand out of the window, but found it blocked by some invisible force field that shimmered purple at her touch. _Maybe that vista isn't real._ Jane thought, remembering they had walked downstairs to enter the palace and on a downward slant once inside. They could very well be miles underground.

Jane shuddered, feeling suddenly rather trapped. The quicker she dressed, the sooner she could be back in Sif's protection. She hurriedly unzipped her bag and thumbed through the three dresses she brought. The nicest one, which Sif and Abigæl both advised her to bring, was sandwiched in the middle to best protect it. She shook it out a few times, wishing she could magically de-wrinkle it. She fingered the pale blue fabric's beadwork, which made her think of Frigga since they were the same beads that had lined one of her gowns. The dress had been her first real gift from Thor on Asgard.

Jane pulled off her travel clothes and stepped into the dress. Part of her was glad to be alone while dressing, but part of her quickly realized the value of having someone to tie up the back. After a few attempts, Jane gave up and searched her bag for her hair pins. They matched the beading on the dress and required that she twist the sides of her hair into an almost halo-like style.

There were three mirrors to choose from in the room and Jane laughed as she decided 'Vanir' was where the word 'vanity' came from. After only two attempts she successfully mimicked the method Abigæl used to do her hair. She double-checked her work before heading to the door to get Sif's help with her dress. Sif stood ready and waiting immediately outside her door when she opened it and Jane motioned her inside.

"What did you do?" Sif asked with a laugh as she examined Jane's botched efforts on tying her dress. It was the first time Jane had heard Sif laugh in a genuine way. Their eyes met in the full length mirror and Jane just laughed and shook her head.

~.~.~

"Lady Sif and Lady Jane! This is a momentous occasion!" A stunning woman announced in common tongue as the pair entered Sessrúmnir Hall.

Sif smiled brightly, in a way Jane had only seen her do for Thor, and gripped Jane's elbow to pull her along into the banquet hall.

As they approached the woman, Jane could see just how beautiful she was with radiant hair golden like Thor's, flawless skin, and captivating eyes that hinted at purple in color. Thor had not lied about the Vanir's renowned beauty.

"Queen Valfreyja, it is such a pleasure to be here." Sif said in a voice foreign to Jane.

A man who looked older than Odin sidled up to Valfreyja's side.

"Sister, you have not introduced me to our exquisite mortal guest." The man said.

"Ever my apologies, brother. I am yet to meet officially her myself." Valfreyja said.

"This is Jane Foster of Midgard." Sif said with a saccharine smile plastered on. "Jane, may I present Valfreyja, Queen of Vanaheim, and her twin brother, Freyr."

Jane bowed and the twins laughed.

"Oh, Lady Jane, there is no need to bow here on Vanaheim." Valfreyja said.

"We are not as pretentious and stuffy as your Æsir friends." Freyr said, stepping closer to Jane. "You will find the Vanir to be open and without judgment."

He needled his way quickly into her personal space and took her hand in his, raising it to his wrinkled lips to kiss her flesh. Jane's spine stood on end as she worked not to shudder. She could not believe this was who Sif was rumored to marry, let alone that he was the same age as Valfreyja. The man was repulsive.

"I am famished from our travels." Sif said. Her tone finally hinted at the austerity Jane was accustomed to. "Might we start the feast?"

"We still await our final guest, Skaði." Valfreyja said.

"I did not realize she would be here." Sif said.

"Yet here I am." A sultry voice said from behind them.

Jane turned with Sif to find a woman who looked about her age and had exceptional features. She knew Skaði to be Jötunn from Heimdall's explanation, but this woman was only Vanir in appearance. She had flowing, wild red hair and her cheeks and nose were dusted with freckles that glowed as if they were daylight stars from Asgard's sky. Jane had never encountered such beauty before. She lacked the vocabulary to describe it.

"Skaði," Sif said and inclined her head in a bow. Jane quickly did the same.

Skaði merely nodded in response to them and Valfreyja ushered them all to the banquet table. Here too, the light colored wood was lined with orka and inlaid with some kind of silver metal that seemed trapped in a liquid state, flowing and swirling throughout the carved grooves to form an elaborate woodlands design matching the ornate doors that Jane had seen in the entry.

There were place markers out dictating that Jane sit between Otta and Skaði. Otta was next to Valfreyja and Sif was on the other side of Skaði. She had been placed next to Freyr, who sat at the place opposite the head of the table where Valfreyja sat. Jane wanted to trust Otta, but Sif seemed far enough away to make her feel a bit uneasy with the arrangement.

The remaining spaces at the ten-person table were filled by two beautiful and poised Vanir teenage girls and two Vanir men, who could only be described as eye candy at first glance. Jane realized based on her seat placement, she was a centerpiece for conversation. She took a deep breath and looked around the table to see if there was any wine. Two full carafes of red wine sat in front of Valfreyja and Freyr.

"You are from Midgard?" Skaði asked Jane.

"Yes," Jane said. "And you?"

"Jötunheim." Skaði said. "Though my appearance would suggest otherwise."

"What do you mean?" Jane asked, playing the Ignorant Mortal card.

"I appear Vanir except when on Jötunheim or in contact with another Jötunn." She said.

"Why?" Jane asked before realizing it was a rude question. "Sorry, nevermind."

"No," Skaði smiled and shook her head. "It was a gift from Valfreyja. I love Vanaheim, almost like it was my home realm."

"That's nice." Jane said, not knowing what else to say.

Valfreyja and Freyr were pouring their own glasses of wine at the moment, quickly passing the carafes to their right when they finished filling their own glasses. _Not long now._ Jane thought as she eyed the carafe to her left in Otta's hands.

"What is Midgard like?" Skaði asked.

"It's..." Jane began. She was unsure how to sum up her world. "It's young. It's growing, maturing. Sometimes it's terrible and sometimes it's magnificent."

"It sounds fascinating." Skaði said. "What are the men like?"

"Well, I'm dating an Æsir, if that tells you anything." Jane said with a laugh.

Skaði let out a loud, melodic laugh, causing everyone to stop their own conversations and look at them. Jane blushed immediately.

"Whatever is so comical?" Valfreyja asked. It was then Jane realized all conversation was in common tongue, not Vanir. She had not needed to practice her Vanir at all.

"Jane is terribly funny." Skaði said. "Her jokes are timing based, I'm afraid, alas we cannot effectively share."

"Why not try?" Freyr pressed.

Jane saw Skaði tense up at his voice.

"Now, Freyr, we wouldn't want to ruin a good joke with our own selfish needs." Valfreyja said in a scolding tone.

Skaði relaxed a moment later, once it was clear Freyr had nothing else to say on the matter.

The wine reached Jane then and she poured a very full glass for herself before passing the carafe to Skaði. Skaði did not comment on Jane's heavy pour as she passed the wine untouched to Sif.

"How is Jötunheim?" Jane asked her. "It sounds incredible from what I've read."

"Incredible?" Skaði laughed. "That's the first time I've ever heard an Æsir compliment Jötunheim."

"Well, I'm not an Æsir, am I?" Jane said in a lowered voice.

"No," Skaði said, her tone softening into what Jane assumed was her actual voice and not the airs everyone seemed to put on around Valfreyja. "No, you are not."

"So, how is it?" Jane pressed.

"It's cold." Skaði said. "You would die from the elements if you ever went."

"How cold?" Jane asked. "We do have winter gear for extreme weather on Midgard."

"It is so cold that your limbs would break off from the frostbite within minutes." Skaði said, flashing Jane a playful grin. "Why are you so interested in Jötunheim?"

"No real reason," Jane said sipping some wine. "I just find the accounts of Jötunheim limited within the Æsir library and wondered what it was actually like. You're the only Jötunn I've met who was open about their race."

"I see." Skaði said. She was quiet a moment, processing what Jane had not said. There was really only one other Jötunn Jane could have met and Skaði had no desire to discuss Loki. Apparently though, neither did Jane. Skaði grinned brightly at her and said, "I will tell you, Jane. I like you."

"Thanks," Jane said.

"Jötunheim is unlike the other realms. It is the farthest away from Yggdrasil's center and thus the coldest."

"But Yggdrasil has no sun." Jane interjected. "Why should distance matter?"

"Asgard's radiation acts in the same way." Skaði explained. "It is in some ways like Asgard and Jötunheim are temporal opposites."

"Except that Asgard is not warm enough to produce crops the way Vanaheim does." Valfreyja said.

"That is true." Skaði said.

"Ah, here is the feast!" Valfreyja said loudly as Vanir arrived with platters of food.

It smelled rich, like roasted meat and chocolate combined, and Jane wondered what she was in store for. As they served the dishes, Jane noticed that Skaði barely took any food.

"Are you not hungry?" she asked.

"The Jötnar do not require food to sustain ourselves." Skaði explained.

"Then what do you eat?" Jane asked. She tried to remember if Loki ever ate, but they'd really only spent time together escaping Asgard to Svartalfheim. That day had not left much time for food.

"We consume orka to maintain our energy levels."

Jane frowned, thinking of the orka pill Heimdall had given her. _What exactly is orka?_ She wondered.

"Orka is from Jötunheim?" Jane asked, playing the ignorant mortal card again.

"Yes," Skaði said. "It's our primary export."

"Your only export." Valfreyja said.

"Not the only one." Freyr said.

Jane saw Skaði shrink at his words and wondered what had really happened between the two of them to make Skaði flee the marriage. She was acting in a way that suggested she both feared and hated Freyr, but if that was the case, why come back to Vanaheim at all?

"I'd like to make a toast." Sif said loudly in a tone that signaled they were moving on from previous conversation.

"What toast, dear Sif?" Valfreyja asked.

"To prosperity!" Sif said.

Jane couldn't be sure, but it felt like Sif was making this up as she went. She decided to help.

"In all the realms!" Jane added.

Sif looked at her with a surprised smile and Jane smiled back.

"To prosperity in all the realms!" Valfreyja said, raising her glass.

Those around the table echoed her with an added, "Hear! Hear!"

As the dinner party went to refill their wine glasses, Skaði took both Jane and Sif's glasses, offering to refill them. When Sif did not protest, Jane decided this was allowed.

"Jane, tell me of Midgard." Valfreyja asked while Skaði poured her wine.

"What would you like to know?" Jane asked.

"Anything," she said. "It's been ages since I was last there."

"You've been to Earth?" Jane asked incredulously.

"Oh, of course! Did you think the Æsir were the only ones with a portal?" Valfreyja howled with laughter before adding, "Where do you think I found my dear Otta?"

Jane laughed despite not finding any of it funny. She felt Skaði pressing her wine glass into her hand and grasped it before taking a large sip. In her peripheral vision she noticed Sif too was drinking heavily.

"How fares Asgard, Sif?" Skaði asked.

"It fares well." Sif replied with a tight smile.

"Good," Skaði said. "There were whispers of a darkness in the realm. I am glad to hear they are unfounded."

"Indeed." Sif said and drank more wine before adding, "The only darkness on Asgard was more than a year ago during the attacks of the Dark Elves."

"Odin has ruled well since then." Valfreyja stated. "He is more sound minded without Frigga, perhaps."

Sif said nothing, her face remaining emotionless. Jane reached to the beadwork on her dress, shocked at Valfreyja's blatant disrespect of Asgardian royalty. She looked to Sif who turned feeling her gaze. Sif's eyes hinted at grief and anger.

"Mother that was rude." One of the teenage Vanir girls said. She had long blond hair and slightly purple eyes like Valfreyja. The other teenage girl looked to be her sister, based on her bone structure, but had chestnut colored hair instead.

Valfreyja looked to her blond daughter and then smiled, "You are right, Hnoss." She looked to Jane and Sif and added, "I apologize. Frigga was a fine queen and a good wife."

"Thank you." Sif said.

Jane merely nodded.

"My eldest daughter, Hnoss, likes to keep me honest." Valfreyja laughed.

Everyone began to eat again and casual conversation resumed after a moment. Otta engaged Jane in updates of events on Midgard and Skaði began to flirt with one of the Vanir men across the table from her. From what Jane could tell, Sif was stuck listening to Freyr prattle on about some topic she cared nothing about.

As dinner dwindled, Valfreyja clapped her hands twice and announced, "We will move to the lounge to relax."

Jane immediately looked to Sif for guidance, but Sif was still listening to Freyr.

"Come on, they have better wine in the lounge." Skaði said to Jane, grabbing her hand and pulling her along with the group to the hidden door in Sessrúmnir Hall's far corner.

They passed through a vestibule and into a large, opulent space. Orka lined silver wrapped around the room's thin columns like vines, illuminating the room so well it felt almost like midday.

"They love their orka here." Skaði said quietly to Jane.

Jane let Skaði lead her to a barrel of wine and pour them both a glass. They sat somewhat nearby on plush cushions set upon wide benches. As Jane took in the details of the room, she realized that this was the perfect place to have an orgy. She sipped some wine and craned her neck to search for Sif, feeling concerned again for her safety.

"Don't worry about Sif." Skaði said. "She can protect herself from Freyr."

"It's not Sif's protection I am worried about." Jane said.

Skaði laughed and said, "I like you, Jane, and I am by far the most dangerous creature in Fólkvangr. You are safe with me. At least until the orgies begin, then the sexual energy is channeled to Valfreyja enabling her to practice völva. But surely Thor explained this to you before sending you here."

"He did not, actually." Jane said.

"Curious," Skaði said with a frown. "Does he love you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Vanaheim is not a safe place for a mortal. I'm surprised he did not accompany you." Skaði said. "Though I suppose he trusts Sif."

Jane did not reply. It felt like a baited comment the way Skaði delivered it. Almost like something Valfreyja would say. _What is she even doing here?_ Jane wondered again.

Skaði laughed again and said, "Your silence is appreciated. Can I tell you something personal?"

"What?" Jane asked, thinking of Heimdall being inside her head, able to see and hear what transpired around her.

"I think you would make a good Jötunn." Skaði said. "Your curiosity, your stubbornness, your endurance. You have the traits it requires to be what I am. What Loki is."

"Don't you mean what Loki was? He died last year." Jane said. "I'm sorry, did you know him?"

"Loki is dead?" Skaði said surprised. "Are you quite sure?"

"I watched him murdered right in front of me." Jane said and drank more wine. She hoped she was allowed to say such things. No one had ever told her to keep it a secret.

"By the Dark Elves?" Skaði asked.

Jane nodded.

"We thought he had gone away again, like before when he went to the Chitauri leader before going to Midgard." Skaði said sounding slightly lost in thought. "You are certain he is dead?"

"Yes." Jane said. "Why?"

Skaði shook her head slightly and then said quietly, "I should have felt it. We are from the same tribe."

"I'm sorry." Jane said softly.

"Jane! There you are." Sif's voice interrupted the moment as she approached Jane and Skaði. "We must leave now and see you back safely to your chamber."

"I will come with you two." Skaði said. "I'm heading to the portal to go home. I refuse to remain here once they seal the palace. Everything becomes terribly dreadful after that."

"You are from Jötunheim. You should be used to dreadful things." Sif said.

Jane looked at Sif reproachfully and Sif rolled her eyes. She would not apologize to a Jötunn.

"Let's go, Jane." She commanded.


	6. Chapter 5

_**Author's Note:** Apologies (again) for delays. Me and my amazing Beta, Emmeloowhoo, miscalculated our holiday time commitments and finally were able to really close out this chapter last night. The good news is that Chapters 6-9 are already edited by ___Emmeloowhoo_ and I just have to finalize the changes. So, things should be truly back on schedule quite soon. You guys have no idea how much awesomeness of editing you owe to ___Emmeloowhoo ;) She's saved this story time and time again.__

_Thank you for your patience! There is so much more to happen in this tale... _

_(p.s.- feel free to review if you want! I enjoy reviews)_

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><p><em><strong>Songs for this chapter: "Fantasy" by MS MR; "The 2nd Law: Unsustainable" by Muse<strong>_

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><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

As Sif, Jane, and Skaði moved towards the lounge's side exit they crossed paths with Valfreyja who stopped them.

"Leaving so soon?" she inquired.

"I am escorting Jane back to her chamber." Sif explained.

"Skaði, you do not wish to stay for tonight's festivities?" Valfreyja asked.

"I am needed back on Jötunheim tonight, unfortunately." Skaði said apologetically. "You do recall that I am leader of my tribe since Laufey's death, right?"

"Of course I know that, Skaði." Valfreyja said with an easy smile. "I am so glad you could join us this evening though. I do hope you find more time to frequent the realm as you used to."

"Yes, I wish I could." Skaði said with a tight smile.

"Sif, please come find me at some point. I need to give you the harvest report for Odin." Valfreyja said breezily as she moved away from them into the lounge. Sif could hear her call out, "Otta, be a dear and fetch me some wine, love."

Sif and Skaði hurried forward and Jane did not need any prodding on the back to move as quickly as the two immortals beside her. They walked in silence, all lost in their own self-centered thoughts until they arrived at Jane's guest chamber.

"Ah, they put you in the basic room, how conniving." Skaði remarked, eying the door. She looked at Jane and added, "If the scent changes from citrus, open the door."

"Why?" Jane asked.

"It means you're being drugged. The door is the only ventilation in that room." Skaði said plainly.

Jane looked at Sif whose eyes were wide.

"Why would they put her in a room that could harm her?" Sif demanded. "Is Asgard not friends to Vanaheim?"

"Surely you are, but is Vanaheim friends to Asgard?" Skaði said. "Why did Thor not accompany you two here, Sif?"

"That concerns neither you nor Jötunheim." Sif said shortly. "Goodnight, Skaði."

Skaði laughed and then looked at Jane, "I know Odin prohibits it now, but I do hope you get to visit Jötunheim one day. I meant what I said earlier about you. It truly has been a pleasure meeting you, Jane Foster."

"And you, Skaði." Jane said.

Skaði nodded to them both and then turned to walk down the hallway, upwards towards the labyrinth leading to the entry hall and palace exit.

Sif opened Jane's chamber door and shoved her inside.

"Lock the door." she told Jane. "Don't let anyone in but me."

"Do you believe her about the room?" Jane asked.

"Of course not," Sif said hastily. "Skaði is from Loki's tribe. Their defining trait is an innate ability to lie."

"She didn't appear to be lying." Jane said.

"And this is precisely why it is a blessing you never truly had to deal with Loki." Sif said in a condescending tone. "Goodnight, Jane."

Jane started to respond, but Sif shut the door in her face before she could. Sif closed her eyes and sighed quietly, relieved to be free of Jane's company until morning.

"Yes, you would do best to keep her locked up." Skaði's voice said from far down the hallway at a volume too low for Jane's mortal ears to hear through the door.

Sif spun to face her, pulling her sword as she approached Skaði.

"Do not go near her, icy scum." Sif hissed at her.

"Oh you must love this. The mighty Lady Sif babysitting Thor's mortal lover because his daddy forbade him to come here. Odin must be desperate for her to die sending her here so unprotected." Skaði said, narrowing her eyes as she stood against the blade of Sif's sword. "But would that not be easier for you, Sif? Thor would believe an accident. You almost convinced me when you acted like you didn't know her chamber could be drugged."

"There was no convincing to be had as I did not know that." Sif said coolly. "You have been much deeper inside the Vanir than I, Skaði."

"Your former Vanir lover, the rebound from Thor, would beg to differ." Skaði said with a placating frown. "But just between us, he wasn't the best Vanaheim has to offer."

"Any Vanir is an improvement over Loki, I presume." Sif said with raised eyebrows. She knew Loki had scorned Skaði a few years back, right around the time Skaði broke her engagement with Freyr.

"I believe our mutual hatred for Loki is the only thing we have in common, Sif." Skaði said with a light laugh.

"Good thing he is dead." Sif said.

"Yes, good thing." Skaði said slowly, trying to calculate if Sif was lying or not. She decided she was not and that Asgard believed Loki to be dead. "Though, since you are curious, I'll admit he was a superior lover. You did miss out while being so consumed with his pathetic brother. Loki always fancied you a little bit, I'm sure you realize."

"Don't you have a frozen wasteland to tend to?" Sif said, pulling her sword back slightly.

"Yes, and you have Thor's mortal lover to tend to, I believe." Skaði grinned and lowered her voice to a whisper, leaning towards Sif so her chest was touching the sword's blade again. "Better keep an eye out for Iðunn's apples while you're here. Valfreyja hoards them. Jane might snatch one up without knowing what it is, and then where would you be?"

"Leave now." Sif commanded moving her blade to Skaði's neck. A trickle of her blood seeped from the shallow cut Sif made, dirtying the steel.

"You are in love with a racist, Sif." Skaði hissed gripping the sword's blade like it was made of rubber. She broke off the blade and threw it aside. After the clanking of the metal on marble tile died down she said icily, "You mimic his ways like a child desperate to be loved. You followed him to my realm and slaughtered my people because he thought it would be fun. You pride yourself on being Asgard's only female warrior, but my people must all be warriors due to your realm's constant persecution. For that you will suffer."

Sif extended the other blade of her double-sided sword and swung it into Skaði's gut. "I said leave."

Skaði's eyes turned bright red as her Vanir guise faded to her true Jötunn form under the blow of Sif's blade. She grinned, pulling the sword from her body. She reached to the wall and pulled some orka from the veins of the woodwork, consuming a handful of it. Her skin drifted from Jötunn blue back to a Vanir glow and purple light emanated from the wound in her stomach, healing it. She shook her head at Sif a few times, then turned on her heel and walked away.

As she watched her leave, Sif wished Skaði's words would not affect her so much, but they did. _I am not some lovesick puppy for Thor and the Æsir do not persecute the Jötnar!_ She fumed as she picked up her broken blade from the floor and cleaned it on her sword cloth. _Is it Asgard's fault the Jötnar choose to attack realms for no reason? No! It is our duty to clean up their mess and keep them in line. _

She reattached the blade to her sword's shaft, using her Æsir magic to rebind the two together. As she cleaned the other blade, she rolled her eyes thinking how Jane would have felt it necessary to correct her use of the word 'magic' with the word 'lifeforce' or 'radiation'. Sif remembered that Skaði had used the word 'radiation' with Jane at dinner. _The two speak the same stupid language of science._ Sif mused. _Maybe I should have sent Jane off with Skaði. She would likely ask so many questions that Skaði would kill her before the frostbite could._

This thought gave Sif the laugh she needed to refocus on tonight's task, even if it was slightly too morbid for her to be comfortable with herself deep down for thinking it. Jane might be as obnoxious as Loki always had been, but she did not wish her dead. She sheathed her cleaned sword blades and shook her head to clear it before hurrying down the hallway back to the lounge.

Her personal purpose for coming to Vanaheim was to get an update on Odin's and Thor's prophecies. Thor requested she get an update on Asgard's future. The last time they were here the reading for the realm had been bleak. After she returned to Asgard with Lorelei, Odin's spying had increased ten-fold. Clearly he felt something on their realm was wrong. Unfortunately Valfreyja had hinted that Jane would be the one to bring about the change required on Asgard.

Valfreyja promised that Jane would not be an issue for Sif and Thor, but with Odin's sudden interest in Jane, this seemed fallible. Especially now that Odin knew of her friendship with Valfreyja. Skaði's insinuation that Odin sent Jane here to die might have been accurate if Odin did not know Sif and Valfreyja were working together. But he did know, so clearly he did not wish for Jane to be killed here. Sif let out a groan as she turned down the final hallway leading to the lounge. _Why must Odin be so complicated?_

Sif knew she had to find Valfreyja before the night's orgy was in full swing. Valfreyja's power was triggered mostly by sexual energy, and Sif knew getting real conversation from her would be nearly impossible once the orgy began. As the orgies occurred, their sexual energy filtered into the orka turning it purple. It flowed from throughout the palace directly to the völva room. To gather the most power, the Vanir sealed off the palace during orgies. Sif checked the walls and saw the orka was still white. There was still time to find Valfreyja.

As she passed a private drawing room next to the lounge, a movement inside caught her eye. She looked to find Freyr with Valfreyja's youngest daughter, Gersemi. He saw her and smiled his weasel-like grin, motioning for her to join them.

"I am looking for Valfreyja. Do you know where she is?" Sif said remaining in the doorway. The drawing room had no orka and was dimly lit by fire. Even in the poor lighting Sif thought she saw an expression of fear on Gersemi's face.

"Please, Sif," Freyr said and began to walk towards her. He moved into the hallway and closed the door behind him. "If we are to put on this charade, at least make it convincing on your end."

"That was not the agreement." Sif said coldly. It was in this moment Sif realized that Skaði had not for a second acted like Sif and Freyr were meant to be engaged. The charade was not even working.

Freyr approached her now, his arm extending towards her body. Sif backed away from him but he pursued her. As she reached for her sword, Freyr punched her in the face and quickly gripped the wrist of her sword hand, pinning it to her chest. He shoved her against the hallway's wall, disabled her other arm in a similar way, and leaned in closely to her face.

The foul stench of his breath encompassed the air around her as he spoke, "You will be convincing about this, my lady. I will see to it on this visit."

"Is that a threat?" Sif said.

"It's a promise." Freyr sneered and then kissed her on the lips forcefully.

A flash of purple light illuminated the hallway and Freyr's body went flying. Sif turned to see Valfreyja approaching her.

"Apologies for my horrific brother. Come, Sif, we have things to discuss." She said.

"Gersemi remains in the drawing room." Sif said with urgency.

"That is her choice." Valfreyja shrugged. "She will leave if she wishes."

Sif followed her past Freyr's incapacitated body, which still writhed in pain from the strike of Vanir Light, and onward into the lounge. The lounge was hardly recognizable from when she had left it. At least a hundred Vanir were lying around on plush furniture and rugs. They were all mostly naked by now and some people were kissing, though the orgy had not officially started yet.

"You may begin." Valfreyja commanded as she and Sif passed them. A pleased murmur and laughter went up from the crowd.

"Close the door." Valfreyja said as they entered her völva chamber.

Sif closed the door and became overcome with her concern for Asgard and for Thor, as if the room drew out all her emotions. She began to cry.

"What troubles you?" Valfreyja asked her.

Sif looked up at her with tears in her eyes, "I worry everything is lost. The hush of fear plagues Asgard."

"Not at all, child. The prophecy is already in motion with her arrival there." Valfreyja said.

"The mortal Jane?" Sif whispered. "But she retains Thor's love."

"Her feelings for Thor wane with the summer. I have seen her prophecy and soon she faces a long winter." Valfreyja said. "On the evening of your return to Asgard, the mortal child will leave."

"And what of Odin?" Sif asked.

"Odin is shrouded in a darkness that continues to grow. Even I cannot see his future."

Sif wiped a stray tear from her cheek.

"And Thor?" she whispered.

"I cannot see Thor." Valfreyja replied equally quiet. "But do not despair, Sif. The Norns have begun to spin a golden yarn from their wool, and light will return to Asgard."

~.~.~

When Sif slammed the door shut in her face, Jane had locked it and done a more thorough search for the source of the citrus scent. After twenty minutes she still could not locate it. Finally she gave up and dug the book she'd brought from the Æsir library out of her suitcase. It was on astronomy, but covered the space outside of Yggdrasil. She was in the section about the Milky Way's closest spiral galaxy, Andromeda, which according to the Æsir was very much inhabited. Jane could not wait to see Erik's reaction when she told him this.

An hour later, while reading a chapter about the Nova Corps and their capital planet Xandar, she felt suddenly exhausted. She breathed in tentatively and noticed the citrus scent was gone. She immediately held her breath and rushed to the door, fighting to keep herself awake. A slight panic set in as she fumbled with the complicated locking mechanism. Finally it released.

She threw open the door, gasping for air. No one was outside. The orka lining the walls was glowing purple instead of white and Jane wondered if that was normal. She shut the door behind her and went down the hallway to the bathrooms. She needed to brush her teeth anyway.

The bathroom was massive and covered in white marble with appliances made entirely of what looked like copper. Jane walked to the sinks and found packaged toiletries in baskets like you would in a hotel. As she unwrapped a toothbrush she wondered if Otta had appointed the bathroom. It was too Earthlike.

When Jane emerged from the bathroom, she saw a figure standing outside of her room. She could not make out who it was, but they appeared to be wearing a dress. She considered going back into the bathroom to wait until the person left.

"Jane?" a female voice called to her.

Jane saw no other choice but to reply to her. "Yes, who is there?"

"It is Hnoss." The girl said beginning to walk towards her. "Valfreyja's daughter. We met at dinner."

"Yes, I remember." Jane said.

Hnoss was visible now, her flowing blond hair seeming to glow a light purple in the proximity of the orka on the walls' woodwork. Once Hnoss was in front of her, Jane could see her eyes were now a vivid, shimmering purple, almost iridescent.

"Valfreyja wishes to see you." Hnoss said in a calm tone. "If you are not too tired."

Jane hesitated. In no way did she trust any of this, but it was also the reason Odin had sent them here.

"Where's Sif?" Jane asked.

"Lady Sif is with Freyr, of course." Hnoss said.

"With Freyr?" Jane asked surprised. "Doing what?"

"They are to be engaged. I trust your imagination will work out what they are doing." Hnoss said plainly.

Jane could not mask her disgust at this thought. Hnoss did not react to her though. Instead she reached for Jane's hand and said, "Won't you come see Valfreyja?"

Jane thought about Odin's look from the Oath Ceremony. If she could learn something tonight, anything of remote use, it would seal his approval of her. She remembered that Heimdall was in her mind and thought towards him, _If this is how I die, at least you will know._

"Yes," Jane said. "I will come."

~.~.~

Sif left Valfreyja's völva room feeling conflicted with the news. She walked through the orgy back to the side exit, pausing a moment when her former Vanir lover called her name. She waved him off and continued to the exit. Once in the hallway, she noticed Freyr was no longer lying helpless on the floor. She picked up her pace as she headed for the drawing room to check on Gersemi.

The girl was alone in the room and Sif walked over to her.

"Are you all right?" she asked Gersemi.

"Yes," she replied quietly. "I am waiting out the orgy."

"Are you too young to join?" Sif asked.

"Too powerful." Gersemi said before explaining in a whisper, "My völva's power outshines even that of Valfreyja's. She locks me in this room to stop it from interfering with her practice. The room has no orka, as you can see. It also blocks the use of Vanir Light."

"And Freyr?" Sif asked. "Why was he in here before?"

Gersemi looked at Sif with cautious eyes.

"Did he harm you?" Sif asked.

"I will not speak ill of your future husband." Gersemi said. "That would be a terrible crime."

"Please, I would rather be warned." Sif said, trying to maintain a trustworthy voice with Gersemi. Inside she was livid.

Gersemi closed the door from her seat on the couch by using magic, a flash of green filling the dark room as she did. Sif stared at her, worried now for her own safety. Even her warrior's strength was no match against true magic.

"Do not be afraid, Lady Sif. I do not seek to harm you." Gersemi said and smiled sweetly. "The room is charmed for privacy. With the door closed, nothing we say can be heard outside these walls."

"When did you receive true magic?"

"At birth." Gersemi said, waving her hand to reveal the elven ears she normally concealed with magic. "My father is Ljósalf."

"And Hnoss?"

"She is full Vanir. A useless puppet of my mother's, but set to inherit the throne." Gersemi scowled. "That is why I need your help."

Sif nodded slowly, hesitantly. _Why does everyone on Vanaheim seem to need my help?_ She wondered.

"First you must promise not to marry Freyr. He is a terrible man." Gersemi said.

"Our engagement is a farce. I never planned to marry him." Sif said to the girl who seemed much older than she remembered. "How old are you now, Gersemi?"

"I celebrate my fifteenth Quinquagenary this winter." She said. "I am the same age as Gerðr of Jötunheim."

Sif stiffened. It could not be coincidence that Gersemi brought up Gerðr.

"Yes, I know of the sham, Sif." Gersemi said. "Just after Skaði fled her engagement to Freyr, Odin was foolish enough to allow Freyr a glass of mead in Valaskjálf. Freyr talked the All Father into allowing him a glimpse into Yggdrasil from the high seat, Hliðskjálf, telling him he wished to find Skaði on Jötunheim to see how she fared. Instead he saw Nál's daughter Gerðr. Now hers is the only name he will speak."

Sif looked at Gersemi, unsure how to react to all of this. Finally she said, "Odin did not know what Freyr intended."

"Do not all men know? They all know and yet they turn the other way. 'I am not the rapist,' they must think to themselves. They must hold themselves in such high regard." Gersemi looked Sif directly in the eye and added, "Their silence condemns them."

Sif said nothing. She could not disagree with Gersemi.

"Like you, I care little for the Jötnar, but I cannot allow for Freyr to abuse someone else the way he does me." Gersemi continued.

"What do you mean?" Sif said softly.

Gersemi let out a cruel laugh before saying, "When Loki came to Vanaheim, naively I thought that he was the Asgardian sent to save us from Freyr's cruelty and Valfreyja's power. I remember seeing him enter the palace and testing his magic when he thought no one was watching. I was wrong though. He only came for vengeance against his Æsir family and then quickly found Skaði. She of course was relieved for his arrival, sensing her salvation from Freyr could be positioned from Loki. She was right. When they left for Jötunheim together, Freyr turned his attention to me."

"When was that?" Sif asked. She had never heard this version of the story before. Guilt spread heavily through her as she realized Skaði's accusations of Asgard had not been so unfounded. They were the guardians of Yggdrasil, yet allowed such horrors to occur within it.

"Three years ago." Gersemi said. Seeing Sif's appalled reaction she added, "Do not concern yourself for me, Sif. Every time that man touches me, I remove another lifespan of Iðunn's apples from his soul. He will soon be dead. Rape is not a crime on Vanaheim. There is no Vanir word for it. This is my only way to justice without being tried for murder. I am trusting you with this secret."

"How do you want me to help then?" Sif asked. A person who practiced true magic was not to be crossed or betrayed. That she would keep Gersemi's secret had little to do with trust.

"Surely Valfreyja has explained that upon your return Jane will leave Asgard and you and Thor will be together again?" Gersemi said and waited for Sif to nod. "I want you to control Thor's decisions regarding Vanaheim. Asgard has allowed such isolation here, if it continues the entropy can only increase, rendering this regime extinct. Ensure he does this."

"How will I do that?"

"Forgive my treason, but while Thor may come from Odin's tainted bloodline, he will not break his betrothal to you. It was a promise his mother made for him and he will not show disrespect to her now that she is dead." Gersemi said. "You must marry Thor and become queen of Asgard. I know you do not want to be queen."

"I do not." Sif said. "But I will do what I must to protect the realms. It is my sworn duty."

"Do not fail me like all the men before you." Gersemi said.

Sif looked at her pointedly and replied, "I am no man."

~.~.~

As Sif spoke with Gersemi, Hnoss took Jane on the path that led to Sessrúmnir Hall and they passed again through the hall's hidden doorway in the back corner. She led her past the mass of naked moaning bodies in the lounge and Jane tried not to stare at the scores of Vanir all in what appeared to be the throes of sexual ecstasy. They stopped at a door that seemed to glow purple from within and Hnoss nodded goodbye to Jane and left. Jane pushed open the door to find herself blinded by violet light.

"Come forth, mortal child." A voice called from within the light. It sounded like a demonic version of Valfreyja's voice and when Jane moved closer, she saw the light was emanating from Valfreyja. Jane's eyes widened as she saw Valfreyja had six arms.

"Do not be afraid." Valfreyja said. "I only mean to bestow your prophecy."

Jane swallowed hard and forced a nod, unsure how she was even managing to stay standing.

"You are strong, Jane." Valfreyja said. "Your prophecy demonstrates such. It says: _He who loves you will betray you only two times. The first will be to your gain. On the second, you will kill him._"

Jane trembled, unable to speak.

"Before it is over, you will require this." Valfreyja said and reached out an arm to reveal a bow.

Jane took the weapon, which was heavier than she expected.

"It is steeped in Vanir Light and will prevent the use of true magic when placed around the perpetrator's neck." Valfreyja explained.

"So I'm going to strangle him with a bow?" Jane whispered.

"Many threads remain unwoven. I have spoken your prophecy." Valfreyja's voice shook the room and Jane took this as her cue to flee.

The orgy was still going on as Jane ran from the room. She got lost several times in the corridors trying to find the way back to her guest chamber. Eventually she reversed the path they took to Sessrúmnir Hall earlier and managed to relocate her hallway.

Once inside the chamber she locked the door and leaned against it, closing her eyes. The smell of citrus flooded her nose and she ran through the prophecy again and again, wondering who 'he' was. She refused to think it was Thor because she could not bring herself to imagine having to kill him. But who else loved her?

When Jane finally opened her eyes, she noticed a quiver on the bed full of arrows. She walked to it and fingered the feathers. They were falcon.

There was a knock on her door, which caused her to jump. She put the bow down on the bed next to the quiver and walked over to the locked door.

"Who is it?" Jane asked.

"It's Sif." Sif's voice said.

Jane unlocked the door, permitting Sif to enter. Once she was inside the room, Jane quickly closed and locked the door again. Taking in her appearance, it was clear Sif had been crying.

"Are you okay?" Jane asked her.

"No." Sif said.

"I'm sorry." Jane said. "What happened?"

Sif just shook her head over and over, so Jane pulled her into a hug, uncertain what else to do. Sif let her, relaxing into Jane's arms in a way that gave Jane pause. She and Sif were not this close and they were not exactly on great terms at the moment. Something must be very wrong.

"Here, let's sit down." Jane said, moving them towards the bed and sitting them both down on its soft mattress.

Sif looked like someone had died.

Jane didn't know what to do, so she sat there next to Sif in silence for some time. Finally she said, "I hate Vanaheim."

"Me too." Sif said and looked at Jane. "It is a wretched place with horrible people."

"Has something happened, Sif?" Jane asked again.

"The most terrible thing," Sif said. "I don't know what to do now."

"What terrible thing?" Jane asked.

"Fate" Sif whispered, almost inaudibly.

Jane felt like Sif had struck her own heart. If her fate was to murder the man who loved her, then she should feel as Sif looked—like someone had died.

"I think that some people can live too long." Sif said. "It's not something you can really understand, I realize, but I feel like it is especially true on this realm."

"What do you mean?" Jane asked, ignoring the insult to her rather limited lifespan as a human. She knew Sif did not mean it that way.

"Freyr." Sif said with an iciness in her voice. "He has outlived his time."

"He seems rather unpleasant." Jane agreed.

"He is a wretched man." Sif said. There was a vitriolic cadence to her tone that Jane had never heard from her before.

"What did he do to you?" Jane asked quietly.

"To me?" Sif said. "No, to everyone. He is a rapist, Jane. Is that how it's called on Midgard? Never find yourself alone with him. Ever."

Sif was looking at Jane with an intensity that could only be born from truth.

"I won't. I never will." Jane promised. She hesitated a moment before asking, "Did he rape you?"

"No." Sif said. Her expression darkened as she added, "I wish he had actually tried. I would have killed him in such a painful way that even on Asgard they would have heard his screams of anguish."

Jane felt afraid of Sif in that moment, but pretended not to be. Instead she put her hand on Sif's lower thigh, rubbing it to try and comfort her. Sif placed her hand over Jane's and laced their fingers together into a weave of alien flesh.

"You're not alone here." Jane said to Sif, squeezing her hand. "Stay with me tonight. We can leave first thing in the morning."

"Thank you." Sif said softly. A tear fell down her cheek and she swept it away with her other hand. She felt horrible, as though she had betrayed her own self by trusting Thor so readily all this time. She had to know if he knew about Freyr. If he understood what they were doing to Gerðr. If he knew that Freyr was raping his niece and Valfreyja did nothing to stop it. _Would Thor really just turn the other away?_ She wondered. _Do I love a monster?_

"Come on," Jane said and moved to turn down the bed for them sleep.

Sif went to help her and noticed the bow and quiver of arrows.

"What is this?"

"Valfreyja gave me it." Jane said. "She said I would need it."

"These feathers..." Sif said, fingering the arrows' feathers. "They're from Valfreyja's coat that enables her to fly. They are full of Vanir magic. This is a very special gift, Jane."

"I know." Jane said.

Their eyes met and both understood the level of gravity the other was trying to convey.

"Here," Sif said, handing the bow and quiver to Jane. "They are yours to protect."

Jane placed them on the ground next to the side of the bed she was on, her hand lingering on the bow a moment after she set it down.

As Sif began to remove her armor, she finally realized that Jane had disobeyed her command and left the room alone. That she had not been there to protect her when needed and Jane knew it. _Will she tell Thor this?_ Sif wondered. With everything else Sif had to speak with Thor about, it seemed almost irrelevant. If the prophecies were true and Jane was leaving when they returned to Asgard, it would not matter at all. Sif let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm going to change." Jane said.

"Yes, of course." Sif said. "Is there extra sleepwear in your wardrobe?"

"Yes," Jane said. "Pick your gender."

Sif breathed out a laughed.

Jane laughed as well and pulled the extra set of women's pajamas from the wardrobe. She handed it to Sif and they both turned away from each other to change. Once they were redressed, they climbed into the large bed. They lied in silence for a long time not touching at all until finally Sif reached a hand over to Jane. Jane took Sif's hand in her own and held it. After another ten minutes or so Jane could hear Sif's breathing even out and felt her grip relax.

Jane shut her eyes, hoping to be able to sleep. She could not shake the image of Valfreyja giving her prophecy though. Valfreya's form reminded her of a Hindu god, which one, she couldn't immediately recall.

A sleepless hour later, Jane heard Sif speaking. It took Jane a frightened moment to work out that Sif was talking in her sleep and not to an invisible intruder in the room. She relaxed again and tried to make sense of what Sif was saying.

"Of course we cannot tell her." Sif said. "She cannot know. I know this, Thor. I know."

Jane's ears perked up and she felt her senses go into overdrive at the mention of Thor in Sif's sleep talk.

"I'm sorry." Sif said, almost in a murmur. "Please, Thor, I love you. Please."

Jane's heart did a somersault at this. It wasn't exactly new information to her, but to hear it said aloud made it real.

"She's leaving. She's leaving Asgard." Sif said.

Jane opened her eyes and looked at Sif to make sure she was actually asleep. She appeared to be and Jane wondered what that line meant. Was Jane the person leaving Asgard? It made sense. She didn't think she could stay after what she had learned here. Even if the prophecy was not real, which was hard to believe with the intensity of how it was delivered, she could not risk murdering Thor. Clearly Sif felt there was viable hope for herself and Thor, even if it was at a very subconscious level.

Jane felt settled that she had to go back to Earth once they returned to Asgard. She was certain Tony would let her work for him in New York. Her adrenaline increased a little at the prospect of working with Dr. Banner. All that remained was how to explain any of this to Thor.


	7. Chapter 6

_**Author's Note: **__Happy New Year! Hope everyone has a fantastic 2015! This chapter contains the "Into Utgard" portion of the story, so I have removed that from my published stories so nothing conflicts. There are quite a few tweaks from the original teaser story to this finished chapter. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who reviewed Into Utgard!  
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_Also, I started a tumblr for this fiction... I've never tumblred before, so it's a little disjointed, but if you want to see my visuals for the characters, head there :) The tumblr is "noncanonship". I'm trying to keep it spoiler-free for everyone, though there's a couple ___images _of Skaði in Jötunn form.  
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><p><em><strong>Songs for this chapter: "Missing" by The XX, "Reunion" by The XX and "Betrayal" by Brian Tyler<strong>_

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><p><strong>Chapter 6<strong>

When they returned from Vanaheim, both Jane and Sif were too shaken to want to immediately report to Odin. Though it had been just after breakfast in Vanaheim when they left, it was already evening in Asgard when they got back due to the time change between realms.

Heimdall greeted them both after they landed in the Observatory and thanked Jane through thought. Then he pulled his mind from hers and gave her a nod as she followed Sif out of the Observatory. She and Sif mounted their horses, which had been summoned for them by Heimdall, and rode back towards Asgard.

While on the Rainbow Bridge, Sif said to Jane, "Will you agree to visit Odin in Court first thing tomorrow morning instead of tonight?"

"That would be ideal." Jane said and smiled at Sif, feeling much more comfortable on Glenr than she had on Otta.

Sif gave a nod of confirmation and the rest of their ride was in a mutual silence. They dismounted at the palace and walked through its halls. When they reached the junction where they would part ways to their separate quarters, Sif stopped, not wanting Jane to leave yet.

"Would you care to have a drink first?" Sif asked.

Jane could sense the fear and exhaustion in Sif matched her own. They both wanted to forget for a moment what had happened on Vanaheim.

"Sure, just us?" Jane asked.

"No, let's invite the men, too. But Jane," Sif lowered her voice. "Just the basics."

"Yes, no need to give Fandral too many orgy details." Jane said with a forced laughed, purposefully avoiding the actual topic in case someone unseen was listening.

Sif laughed too, glad Jane was wise enough to catch on. She added, "Nor the food details for Volstagg."

Jane laughed again and then said, "You go get Thor and I will find Fandral and Volstagg. See you at the tavern."

"Three-eyed Raven's?" Sif asked.

"Yes, that one. Can you put these in my chambers?" Jane handed Sif her bow and quiver to bring back to her quarters.

After taking the weapons, Sif hesitated for a moment. She wondered why Jane would have put forth that she should fetch Thor. _Is this the start of the prophecy?_ She wondered. But she wanted to fetch Thor herself, and since it was settled, she gave a quick nod to Jane and headed towards his quarters.

Jane went the opposite way, quickly finding Fandral and Volstagg drinking in their shared quarters. She relayed the plans and the trio set off for Three-eyed Raven's.

The tavern itself was run by a raven, who were considered secondary citizens on Asgard and primarily acted as messengers throughout the realm. They carried both letters and spoken messages. It had taken Jane nearly six months to adjust to the fact that the ravens could talk. She wondered vaguely if the falcons on Vanaheim could as well.

"Ah, they are already here." Fandral said as they entered the tavern. He waved towards Thor and Sif and remarked to his immediate group, "He must have flown her here."

Jane expected to feel upset about this comment, as if Thor should only fly her anywhere, but she felt nothing. She smiled and waved at the pair of them, taking the seat at the end of the four-top. It was next to Thor, but didn't impose on Sif to move from her place beside him. Fandral sat next to Jane, across from Thor, and Volstagg across from Sif.

"Hello," Thor said to her with a smile after she'd settled into her seat.

"Hey!" Jane smiled. He leaned in to kiss her lightly and she let him, but didn't linger. Instead she said brightly, "I really need a drink that isn't wine!"

"Hear, hear! The lady has spoken!" Fandral laughed.

Thor motioned to a raven, who came over to take their drink orders. The ravens of course couldn't carry the drinks and would just fly back over to inform you when your order was ready to pick up from the bar. Jane realized the raven aspect was more a gimmick than anything, but the bar was good and they usually had live music. This evening was no exception with two fiddle players having a friendly duel on the small stage.

Volstagg helped Thor get the round from the bar once it was ready, and Jane began drinking her ale quickly. She wanted to forget everything she learned on Vanaheim. She wanted to forget the leer of Freyr. The uncomfortably saccharine nature of the Vanir. The way she'd been drugged in her own room. The tears of an emotionally shattered Sif. The six arms of Valfreyja. The purple light.

The guys asked for several details that Jane and Sif would not share. Each time this happened, the two women would share a look and drink more. After a couple of hours Jane felt closer to Sif than ever before and Sif wondered how she could have ever disliked Jane.

As the night wore on it became clear to Jane that her initial emotion on Vanaheim that she needed to leave Asgard was correct. Empowered by the alcohol, she decided that she would talk to Thor about it tonight.

"I have hit my mortal limit." She said, giving what she intended as an endearing smile to the group.

Everyone smiled back at her and Thor said, "Let me escort you back to our quarters."

Jane nodded and stood, still fairly steady on her feet. She was not actually drunk. She and Thor said goodbye to everyone and Sif masked her disappointment that he was leaving by drinking a large swig of mead. Valfreyja's and Gersemi's words weighed in her mind. It had seemed that Jane distanced herself from Thor throughout the evening, but now that alcohol seeped in, would the lowered feelings remain? Or would their original attraction be reignited? Sif was going to need more to drink and some distraction of thought.

She motioned for the raven and turned to Fandral, "Tell me of your latest training technique with the sword. And I mean actual weaponry, before you make a crass joke."

Fandral laughed and launched into his recent training grounds' activities. Volstagg chimed in corrections whenever Fandral exaggerated.

~.~.~

"Let's stop by the water first." Jane said to Thor, pulling him towards a balcony that overlooked the Ægir Sea.

"You can see Jötunheim's stars tonight." Thor said as they stood in the quiet nighttime air.

"Really?" Jane asked, looking up at the clear sky. Her keen eye began to spot constellations. "Oh, it's Jörmugandr!"

"Yes, well seen, Jane. I believe that Midgard is just through that star system." Thor said.

"It is. That tiny blue dot between the middle two stars." Jane said.

"You have acquired so much knowledge here in so little time! It makes me feel rather dull." Thor said and laughed lightly.

"Thor," Jane began. She was unsure how to proceed, as she'd never been in this situation before. Finally she continued, "I need to talk to you."

"About Vanaheim?" Thor asked. "I can tell from your and Sif's behavior that something happened there. Are you all right, Jane? Have they harmed you? Sif had a bruise on her face, but she would not explain it to me earlier."

"It's not about Vanaheim." Jane said. It wasn't entirely true, but she had no desire to answer his questions.

Thor was patient as Jane gathered herself. Finally she spoke again.

"I need to go home." Jane began. "So much has happened here that I didn't anticipate, and I just can't stay any longer."

"But, Jane..." Thor started.

"No, Thor." Jane said. "I know what you are going to say. That I'm a citizen, that I owe Odin what I promised. I will report to him in the morning and leave after that. Hogun too is an Asgard citizen and he lives on his home realm. That's what I'm asking. That's what I want."

"What about what I want, Jane?" Thor asked. His eyes were searching.

"What do you really want, Thor?" Jane whispered.

"I want you." He said. "If you leave, that is the end of things. I cannot come visit you and Odin will not take kindly to your flight."

"Thor," Jane said. It finally hit her what she was about to do. She was closing off her pathway to outer space. All that she'd come here for would be left unlearned. No Nobel prizes. No manifold of advances for Earth. Regardless of the prophecy, she knew she could not keep lying to Thor. She could not sleep in his bed, next to his body, when she had little interest in being there. She could not maintain any friendship with Sif knowing what she was preventing for them. She could not keep up this selfish façade.

"Jane?" Thor asked once she was silent for too long.

"I can't keep seeing you." Jane said.

"Why not?"

"Everything is different." Jane said. "I am different."

"What happened on Vanaheim, Jane?" Thor asked.

"Everything." Jane whispered. She could feel herself beginning to cry.

"Jane, it will be okay. I will fix this." Thor said and pulled her into an embrace.

"No." Jane said. Her voice was too soft even for her to hear, so she repeated herself louder, "No."

Jane pushed away from Thor unable to look at him when she said, "I am only standing in your way."

"How can that be possible?" Thor asked. "I love you, Jane. Do you no longer love me?"

Jane held her breath a long moment before looking back at Thor. She blinked away tears before finally saying, "I don't."

"I see." Thor said. He stepped backwards, as if Jane had actually struck him.

"I care for you, Thor." Jane said. She meant it, even if it sounded hollow now. "I always will. I just... I can't."

"No, no, I see." Thor said. "I understand."

"Okay." Jane said. She knew he couldn't entirely understand since he had never known the full truth of why she agreed to move here in the first place. That she had come to Asgard with the temporary intentions to gain sufficient knowledge and leave. That she had always been planning to return to Earth and work for Stark Industries alongside Bruce Banner. That she had stopped truly loving Thor at some vague point over the last four months. It didn't matter. This was over.

"I think I need to be by myself, Jane." Thor said. "Would you mind to see yourself back to our quarters?"

"Okay." Jane said. "I'm sorry, Thor. I truly am. It's all just too much for me."

Thor nodded and gave her his warm smile. She wondered if he would even come back tonight. If she should sleep somewhere else. It felt too tacky to bring up though.

"Goodnight, Jane." Thor said, breaking her thought.

"Goodnight." She said softly.

Jane turned to leave then, feeling a fresh batch of tears welling. She was surprised at how much she was crying. She felt like leaving Thor was a natural and logical course of action at this point, so her tears must be stemming from something else. From Vanaheim.

_He who loves you will betray you two times. On the second, you will kill him._

It replayed in her head like a broken record. She had to leave. Otherwise she would become a murderer. She had to leave. Thor wanted to be with Sif anyway, even if he didn't see it yet. They were made for each other. Jane could see it so clearly now as she moved her feet back to her chambers. She wanted to change into jeans. She wanted to feel like herself again—comfortable and practical.

She took the servant's entrance as a shortcut and moved quickly through the inner door to her dressing chamber, grateful Abigæl was nowhere to be found this late. She removed the dress that she'd put on that morning in Vanaheim. Just taking it off felt freeing. Tomorrow there would be no more "my lady", no more bows, no more dealing with Thor's outbursts of anger. Just smog and noise and delayed trains. Weak beer and Darcy's sarcasm. She was questioning how this context could possibly give her comfort when she heard a noise in her study.

_Thor._ She thought.

She zipped up her jeans and pulled her long sleeve shirt over her head before going into her study.

As soon as she emerged through the doors, it felt like her heart stopped beating for a long moment. Thor was not in her study. Instead there was a ghost of pale skin and long, black hair standing there reading her journal full of space-time travel equations. He wore clothing that she knew. Clothing that had covered her as protection in the fight on Svartalfheim. She would never forget that green.

"Loki?" Jane whispered.

He spun to face her, his light jade eyes slightly wild. As he stared at her, she realized the look in his eye was panic. He wasn't a ghost. He was real. This was real.

"Oh my god," Jane blurted out.

In two strides Loki was directly in front of her. His frame towered over her and he smelled like the cool scent of wet bark from an ancient fir. The scent of Odin that had been so familiar to her, but she couldn't place why. This was why. She had smelled it before on Loki. She knew he could do magic, a trait taught to him by Frigga. If she had not seen him die, it would not be out of the question for him to have been impersonating Odin all this time. Skaði had not seemed convinced Loki was dead though, and after the drugs proved real, Jane trusted her. She thought about it more. Odin's behavioral changes, Heimdall's concern that Odin lacked the gift of Mimir, the green and gold figure in her photo of the library. It all added up.

"You're Odin. Of course...of course! It all makes sense now." She said as she figured it out.

Loki's eyes turned dark and Jane immediately regretted speaking. Her heartbeat was racing and she did all she could think to do.

"Please, please don't kill me." she begged. "Only I know. I won't say anything. I'm leaving tomorrow anyway. It will be our secret."

Loki paused a moment before grinning at her and saying, "Oh, Jane, we both know it's too late. Heimdall can hear everything, and you and I know he is watching you quite closely, don't we? You have already revealed me."

Jane tried to swallow, but her throat was dry.

"Sweet Jane," Loki said. His slender hand brushed her face and locked onto her neck. Jane was certain he was going to strangle her or snap her neck and she attempted to make peace with herself before it happened. But Loki wrapped his other arm around her waist and said softly, "You've been crying."

Jane looked up at him and his green eyes flashed with excitement before the world around her faded into a spotted black and then blinked out of existence.

Loki found Jane had passed out during the spatial transport and laid her on the flying boat's floor. He could hear the alarms and knew he had hardly any time before he was spotted. Even with having immediately cloaked Jane's mind from Heimdall, there was no guarantee of getting out of Asgard unseen if he lingered. He looked to the sky to find the Jörmungandr constellation winking down at him. A smile crept across his lips as the plan shaped in his mind. He changed the boat's course and hoped Jane would not wake up until they had slipped through his passageway to Jötunheim.

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><p>Jane awoke in a shiver. Blinking to, she realized she was in motion and under a sky of darkness. An eerie glowing white sphere in the distance—almost like a moon, but too fluid—provided enough light for her to see she was not alone. As she stirred, the flash of green fabric caught her eye.<p>

_Loki._

Anger washed over her as she moved to stand in the flying boat.

"Careful," Loki's voice wrapped around the word.

Jane shot him a glare. He met her eyes with a wide grin set into his own, the lines crinkling around their sockets. She wanted to look fierce and strong, but could not muster it in this cold.

His lies. His deceit. All those days spent with Odin that she had relished. Odin was beginning to accept her. Bring her into the fold with Vanir lessons and spying in Vanaheim. All of that had just been another lie, another disappointment on a long list. She crossed out the words "Odin's approval" from her mental notebook. It had always been Loki. It had always been lies.

Jane had read somewhere that she should create a relationship with her kidnapper if she wanted to make it out alive. She wondered vaguely what she should do if she already had a relationship with the kidnapper. If he had been impersonating someone else she trusted for the past year. If he had saved her life before. If he had invaded her planet before. If he smelled exactly like her favorite mountain meadow near Tromsø. What was the protocol for that situation?

"Where are we?" she finally asked. It came out weaker than she'd intended because her teeth were chattering so hard the words were jagged.

"Jötunheim," Loki smiled. "My birthplace."

"You could have at least brought me a coat." Jane managed.

Despite the circumstances of being kidnapped by her ex's brother who had been impersonating their father for at least a year, she was excited to be on Jötunheim. She remembered the last thing Skaði said to her was that she hoped Jane could some day visit Jötunheim. She wondered if she would run into Skaði. It would be ironic.

Even with the blatant propaganda of the Æsir library, Jötunheim's history was not all bad, and of course the realm was most known for its export of orka. Something Skaði had confirmed on Vanaheim. It was not clearly stated, as the Æsir's written history of the Jötnar was rather biased and thus incomplete, but based on her cross-referencing Jane had come to assume orka was the source of what eventually came to form the Tesseract.

She shuddered thinking of that relic's power, so similar to the all consuming nature of the aether. It had been more than a year since the aether had possessed her, but she could not fully shake its horrors. That desire for darkness was like no emotion she'd had before. Part of that desire still failed to leave her.

She was about to ask Loki what they were doing in Jötunheim when she felt something warm being wrapped around her. She looked down to find a vivid green parka surrounding her. She slipped her arms into the sleeves and began to zip it up.

"Let it never be said that Loki is not a true gentleman." He purred right next to her ear.

A slow tingle slid down Jane's spine and she turned to him, their faces only inches apart.

"Would a true gentleman kidnap a lady?"

Loki laughed.

"Oh, sweet Jane, this is hardly a kidnapping."

"Oh?" she cocked her head. If he only meant to kill her, she would already be dead. "Then what exactly is it?"

"All part of the plan, Jane Foster."

"Oh good, and here I was thinking this was all fly-by-night meets whistle stop tour of the realms." She muttered. The parka had warmed her to the core and as Loki erupted into laughter she noticed he was no longer wearing his cloak.

"Oh, I do like you, Jane." He said. "You have always been my favorite of Thor's consorts."

Jane winced at the word. Loki betrayed no indication that he saw her do so, but she knew he had. Loki started to land the boat and she finally took in her full surroundings.

The books hadn't done Jötunheim justice. It was terrifyingly beautiful, like the depths of a cave. She could hardly tell where the pillars of jagged rock began and ended, like monstrous versions of stalagmites and stalactites.

"It's so beautiful." Jane said the thought out loud without really meaning to.

"Not exactly Asgard." Loki said as he parked the flying boat on a glacial valley.

"No, I'm not being sarcastic." Jane said and looked at him. He held her gaze a moment and his features softened.

Finally he uttered, "You should wear green more often, Jane. It suits you."

"Don't plan on killing me then?"

Loki helped her out of the boat, conjuring snow boots onto her feet before saying, "Why would I kill the thing Thor holds most dear? What a waste of an opportunity."

She dropped his hand at this comment and shoved it into the parka's deep pockets.

"Aren't you cold?" she asked him.

"Jane, you're too smart to ask that." was his only response before he began walking.

Jane didn't follow him. Thirty paces away he spun to face her.

"Aren't you coming?" he called. Suddenly his voice was in her ear whispering, "Or are you going to stay here and freeze to death without my magic to keep you warm?"

Jane smacked the illusion next to her and yelled out, "Heimdall! Open the bridge!"

"Don't waste your meager stores of energy." Loki called from his actual spot, thirty paces away. "You think I could've snuck us out without a cloaking device?"

Jane pulled up her hood and marched towards him. All her thoughts were focused on Heimdall. Maybe he would be able to hear her thoughts still. She would not rely on Loki's words. They were all lies.

"Really, Jane," Loki began once she'd caught up to him. "You look quite ravishing in green."

"Shut up." Jane said.

"As you wish, my lady." He exaggerated. "But you aren't actually a lady, are you? Merely a mortal."

Jane sniffed. This was not the Loki she knew from Svartalfheim. Not the Loki who had saved her life when Thor could not. She wondered if there had been more truth than she allowed herself to believe in Sif's, Fandral's, and Volstagg's harsh words about him. If she had glorified the dead.

"Merely a mortal girl," Loki continued. "Hardly what an Æsir could call a lady."

"And you are hardly what anyone could call an Æsir." Jane said simply. "You would be dead if Thor didn't bother to care for you."

"I was dead, Jane." Loki replied, seemingly unaffected by her words. She knew that he was not though. Thor was his trigger. It had taken very little time with the two of them to figure that out.

"Why couldn't you stay that way then?" she asked.

"You found me. You alone are to blame for that." He said. "I should've cloaked your mind from the beginning."

"Heimdall would've noticed."

"The old oaf? I think not. I blind him all too easily."

"How?" Jane asked.

Loki stopped walking and took Jane's arm. She recoiled automatically and, expecting so much, he tightened his grip and pulled her to him. _How easily she folded into his arms. _The thought passed through both of their minds for a flicker of time, a Midgardian heartbeat, before Loki refocused his stare.

"That is why I brought you here." He said quietly.

"To blind Heimdall?"

He stared at her and his earlier words 'You are too smart to ask that' repeated in her head. After a moment she worked it out. He was going to share his magic with her.

"Like with Frigga?" she said. Her breath was a cloud of condensation as her heart raced with this proposal. Learning true magic would be far superior to anything she could achieve by simply becoming Æsir. Her entire understanding of the universe might change with the ability to do true magic. She felt so warm with excitement that she might even lose the parka and be fine.

"You're flush." Loki frowned and waved his hand. The inside of the parka cooled some. "Better?"

"Yes," Jane said. "How do you do it?"

"Frigga taught me as a boy. I hated being out of doors, preferred learning and improving the mind to foolish play." He began. "She wanted to give me a way to fit in, but still be myself. I would be hidden away reading while my illusion was off with Thor and Sif and the others."

"That's so lucky." Jane said. "I wish I had that growing up."

"Yes, well..." Loki started and stopped for a moment before asking, "Is that something you still wish?"

"To learn this magic?" she clarified. "Of course! Who wouldn't want that?"

"There are many."

"Think of all I could learn. To observe my own experience would be the ultimate in experiment. Think of the data possibilities!"

Loki smiled, amused by her excitement and the easy success of his own plotting. _The perfect bait._ He thought.

"Though, being too close to something could be a little Bruce Banner-esque." Jane frowned.

"Banner?" Loki frowned too, remembering the beating the man—if he could even be called such—gave him on Midgard. He shook his head and said, "You could never become like him. He's a foolish beast."

Jane shot him a look and said, "He's a colleague! Besides, you're not really one to talk."

"How am I foolish?" Loki protested.

Jane smiled to herself at the fact that he accepted 'beast' as a descriptor.

"Where are we going?" she asked. "Or did you just want to give me a spin down memory lane before dangling this carrot?"

Loki wondered briefly if she saw through his plan, but decided to restart their journey. It was too complex a plan, even for her quick mind.

"We're going to visit my mother." He said.

"Your mother died." Jane said bluntly. She'd meant to be softer about it, but she was too shocked. If Loki was alive after she had quite clearly seen him die, and Frigga taught Loki his magic, was there hope for Frigga?

"Don't be foolish, Jane." Loki spat. "My mother Nál rules Jötunheim now that Laufey is dead."

"Because _you_ killed him," Jane muttered to herself.

"I can hear a much lower range than you. Perhaps Thor did not share an understanding of this trait with you?"

Jane blushed before saying, "Or perhaps it's a Jötunn-specific trait."

"I admire your ability to lie by appearing optimistic, Jane." Loki laughed. "Unfortunately we are both correct and your late night secrets with Thor are hardly that."

"Well, you were the one listening!"

"All of Asgard could hear, I believe. The king's quarters have substantial soundproofing, and I still heard." Loki smirked. "You are quite loud."

Jane was too mortified to respond and they walked in silence for some time before approaching an enormous cliff face.

"Does everyone live inside there?" Jane asked.

"Your books didn't mention?"

"You know they didn't."

"Could you smell me on the pages?" he teased.

"Yes, they reeked of freezer burn."

Loki chuckled. "I have no idea what that means, but I'll safely assume it was a Midgardian insult. You are so full of them, Jane."

_I know what you're full of,_ Jane thought angrily.

Now what?" she said after they stood there a few minutes.

"We cannot simply walk into the gates of Utgard. We must wait to be admitted." Loki said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, it wasn't in your plan to send word ahead of time?"

"Your mockery is only increasing my affection for you, Jane. You're like a fantastic pet! I do see why Thor keeps you around."

Jane became aware she was seething and forced herself to release the emotion. If she lived through this, she could be back in Thor's protection and Loki securely imprisoned. Odin may even execute him this time. Thor had implied quite transparently that Frigga was the only reason Loki was kept alive before. Of course, this idea hinged on if they could even find Odin and if Odin was even alive. Jane wondered how far Loki's magic could reach.

A cold hand took hers, startling her out of this thought process, and she looked down to see Loki pulling her forward.

"They have let us in. Come, Jane."

She looked up to see the cliff face gone, an opening to a cavernous hall in its place. She had no choice but to be pulled inside by Loki.

Jötnar began to emerge from the shadows, taking in the foreign visitors with somewhat passive gazes through their vivid red eyes. Their size made even Loki, who towered over her, look like the runt in a litter. There were no fires, the main weakness of their race, but white orbs of orka hung in the air to light the entire space. They were miniature versions of the moonlike light source outside. That was the raw orka ore, Jane realized. It was still too dark for her to see much more than the path around them and the closest Jötnar.

"Loki Laufeyson!" A stony voice said from the darkness. "You remain alive after all."

The Frost Giantess emerged to reveal her immense stature. Jane's hand tightened around Loki's in fear and it wasn't until that moment she even realized their hands were still joined. She had seen many unbelievable things on Asgard, Svartalfheim, and Vanaheim, but nothing prepared her for this. Loki dropped her hand in order to extend out both of his. A gesture of good faith, she had read. Not so different from Earth culture.

"Nál!" Loki exalted. "An honor as always."

"You bring a mortal?" Nál asked.

"A gift," Loki replied. "She belongs to Thor Odinson."

Jane swallowed. This did not sound like the type of plan she would make it out of alive.

"You bring me Jane Foster?" Nál asked.

Jane looked at Loki for his reaction, but he gave nothing away. Jane searched the Jötnar she could see for Skaði. _Who else would mention me by name and relation to Thor to the Queen of Jötunheim?_ She thought.

"I am pleased you know of her." Loki replied.

"She is unique." Nál stated.

"Indeed," Loki smiled and glanced at Jane. His hand lightly grazed her chin making her realize her jaw had gone slack and she was gaping.

"Seize her!" Nál commanded.

Loki's arm immediately went around Jane's upper torso, his hand covering her heart. It happened so quickly that she didn't process at first he was essentially coping a feel. She knew they couldn't pierce through his skin and that he was simply protecting her, but still. In the hard hold of his arm, she was unable to move.

"Just a moment," Loki said calmly. "I do not give her freely. There is an exchange to be had."

"You come here unannounced and uninvited at a time when it is forbidden to enter Jötunheim. This is not even accounting for the malicious treatment of the Jötnar that you have portrayed historically." Nál leaned forward and Jane shuddered at the blood red of her eyes. "What room do you have to bargain?"

"I have kept the peace intact, Nál." Loki's voice held a hint of menace. "I have ruled the Nine Realms in peace for over a year under guise of Odin. I forbade entrance by all to Jötunheim other than to your ports. Your economy is booming, thanks to me. Even our unique friend here, Jane Foster, indulges in your orka now and then. You should be begging _my_ favor, Nál."

Jane counted 312 seconds before Nál replied, "What is your bargain?"

"I will give you adequate time to study Jane if in exchange you make her Jötunn."

"What?" Jane exclaimed.

"I accept." Nál said.

"No!" Jane yelled. Loki released her and the guards seized her easily. "You promised me, Loki! You promised!"

"I am keeping that promise!" he yelled at her.

He watched her continue to resist the Jötnar in vain until finally she went limp and fixed an icy glare on him.

"I will never forgive you." She whispered.

Loki made no response, but she knew he had heard her.


	8. Chapter 7

_**Songs for this chapter: "The Day The World Went Away" by Nine Inch Nails; "Tension" by Vök**_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

Jane's imagination ran wild with what the Jötnar would do to her. Strap her to a gurney and dissect her up like in an alien thriller movie? Her time in Utgard was less exciting, rather a long stay at the hospital with tests and medicine administered at random, accompanied by the feeling of constant exhaustion. She was warm though. They had wrapped in some sort of orka cocoon, which seemed to maintain her body temperature and nourishment needs.

They had stuck her in what seemed to be a cross between a laboratory and a hospital room, based on the equipment she could see around her when they first dragged her in there. The room itself was made of stone and ice and poorly lit. She could not sit up or move very much, as if the orka cocoon they shrouded her inside physically stopped her from doing so.

Jane continued to have no idea why they were studying her. The Jötnar examining her only spoke to her if they had a question, which was rare, and they did not even speak to one another for her to overhear. It was clear they were still communicating though and Jane wondered if they were telepathic.

The time passed slowly. Without access to outside light, Jane could not accurately measure time here. Instead she tried to mark its passing by counting each time she woke.

The orka kept her from feeling much. She began to hypothesize that orka was the source of Loki's magic. She desperately wanted to ask the Jötnar examining her about it. Clearly they were scientists. Despite the obvious size difference, how unlike her could they really be? But every inquiry attempt she made was ignored. After thirty-seven awakes, she abandoned the idea.

Loki never came to visit her. Even in the dark silences when everyone else was away, he kept his distance. She supposed there was no reason for him to come. He was busy plotting his rise to the throne. What part might she play in that? Odin would not let Loki live after this. Thor himself might swing the axe, or however Æsir performed executions. The idea of Loki's head rolling on the floor kept her going. She refused to break down. She refused even to cry. She would live through this. Loki would not.

After a hundred and seventeen awakes her steel began to fade. Nál and Loki had never specified how long she would be subject to their study. At the end of it she would become Jötunn and thus have a new lifespan of thousands of years. She could be here for the entire length of her human life before they were done. This thought nearly destroyed Jane. The only thing that staved off her grief was the thought that Thor would be looking for her by now. If Thor was looking, then the whole of Asgard would be behind him.

She realized in terror what that meant.

Heimdall would know just where she was by where he could not see. The forbidden and volatile Jötunheim, which as it turned out wasn't so horrible, if not a bit rude. But no, with Heimdall's sight they would have come for her by now. This could only mean one thing: No one was looking for her because she was not missing. In fact, she was willing to wager a moping, mocking illusion of Loki was sitting in the Asgard dungeons refusing to speak to anyone. He'd probably had her illusion suggest she go back to Earth.

Every question Loki had asked her when he was pretending to be Odin, every quiet moment and decision she'd made on Asgard, Loki had observed. He knew her behavior so well that he might have just kept her there on Asgard. No one would suspect. No one spent any time thinking there. A foolish lot, the whole of them, even Thor. Especially Thor. He was sleeping next to an illusion of her, cast by his own brother, and didn't even notice.

That was the moment she broke.

Her scream was so loud and so long she felt the whole of Jötunheim could hear her. She was glad. They never acted like they heard her, so perhaps they finally would.

A pair of red eyes emerged from what she thought was an empty space. What had always been an empty space. As they moved closer to the light of the orka around her, she could make out the face surrounding the eyes. Even in the iced blue flesh, she knew it was Loki.

"Color me impressed, Jane." He said. As he smiled at her, his irksome grin, his flesh returned to normal. How she wished to smack that grin off his face.

He continued, "I never thought you would last this long. Even the Jötnar are impressed with you. You are truly stronger than what meets the eye."

"This whole time, where have I been?" Jane asked after a long moment.

Loki looked perplexed. "Right here, Jane. This is reality. I have been watching you this whole time concealed in that corner. You should never trust a Frost Giant left to its own devices."

"I mean the illusion of me." Jane grounded out.

"Oh, that." Loki said. After a moment he grinned brightly at her, "I'm quite proud you worked that out. Your illusion is imprisoned with my illusion. We were colluding of course. Odin hates traitors just slightly more than he hates mortals. I'm afraid your illusion didn't stand much of a chance after being found with mine."

"Lies." Jane said. Her voice was weary. She pictured him decapitated to inspire some energy before continuing. "Such obvious lies, too. My, my, Loki, you are out of practice here in your hidey hole with me."

Loki laughed easily.

"Well, that's fair." He said. "Your illusion sent itself back to Midgard. If I'm being honest, I originally planned to keep your illusion on Asgard, mostly as a spy of sorts since mine is locked up, but the idea of being bedded by Thor was, frankly, too revolting."

Jane laughed, in spite of herself, imagining Loki as her illusion trying to thwart Thor's advances. Even if it was not logical, given that she had just broken up with Thor. Loki clearly did not know that.

"Are you giving me the magic?" she asked Loki after a moment. She noticed that his eyes were still the Jötunn red. She'd grown so accustomed to those eyes while stuck here they felt commonplace, even set against Loki's Æsir features.

"Yes." Loki said. "You deserve it. You're the only other being I've met who deserves it."

"More lies?" Jane asked.

"No. Not this time. And the lies will stop. Frigga and I could keep very little from one another. My true origins were the only secret she kept from me, and it was bound by the All Father's power, so hardly her choice."

"Why did you bring me here then? If I am so deserving, why not just do it in Asgard?"

"You're too weak as a mortal to handle it."

"Human." Jane replied. "At least give me some dignity before you steal my identity from me."

"I am giving you so much more, Jane." Loki said in earnest. "Immortality. The power of true magic. No one else will possess both."

"Except you." Jane said. Was he replacing Frigga with her? Did that qualify as Oedipal Complex? _Maybe the Norse mythologies will adapt to include such a tale._ She mused. _The Lokian Complex._ She stifled a laugh, not wanting to deal with giving him an explanation for it.

"You still haven't answered my question." She said.

"Oh right." Loki said. "Yes, you're correct. I could have had the immortality tree bear you a fruit on Asgard, but where is the fun in that? 'Here, Thor, I've just solved your only problem in life ever for you'? Can you even imagine me doing such a thing—especially under the guise of Odin? Ha!" Loki said and looked at Jane with such ferocity that she felt like he might consume her. "No, Jane. I brought you here because I wanted to turn Thor's lover into a monster."

"The Jötnar are not monsters." Jane whispered.

"Oh yes, tell that to the Æsir, to the Vanir. Their squabbles for power end only in quests for blood. How can one not be raised to make enemy of their competitor? No, they are monsters because those in power perceive them as such." Loki sneered.

"What do you have against me, then, to make you so desperately want to see me suffer? Or is this all about your inferiority complex with Thor?"

Loki fixed Jane with a red eyed glare and she purposefully looked away from him. After a few moments his shadow was gone, hidden in plain sight once again. This could be her window. She closed her eyes and thought in a chant:

_Heimdall, come find me in Utgard._

_Heimdall, come find me in Utgard._

_Heimdall, come find me in Utgard._

~.~.~

When Jane awoke, she was in pain. The orka that had flowed around her for so long was gone. Her first thought was that Loki had taken it while she slept, but then she noticed the air did not feel cold.

She sat up, something she'd not been able to do since they first put her in there. The room seemed better lit now, even though the orka was gone. She saw the lab equipment was gone. Everything but the stone slab of a bed she sat on and a stone seat being occupied by Loki was gone. He appeared smaller from this vantage point. _Or, perhaps,_ she realized, _I am actually larger._

"Good morning, Jane." He said sweetly. "I'm willing to forget our discourse from last night if you are. Such harsh words—and you were not quite yourself then."

Loki looked his Æsir self again. Even his eyes were back to their pale green. He walked over to the bed slab.

"Nál said you would still be in pain. Something about the transfer of lifeforce across dimensions. But you should be perfect in a little bit. Then we can go."

"Go?" Jane asked. Her voice was different. Deeper, stonier, shrouded with ice and hate. She felt at her throat and the flash of blue that was her hand made her stop mid-motion. She turned her arm over, studying the new flesh. She felt...strong. There was no other way to describe it.

"Back to Asgard of course." Loki smiled and offered his hand to help her down.

"I can't go looking like this." She said. "The Æsir hate the Jötnar."

She pushed back her hair and noticed the grooves and bumps on her forehead forming a design.

"They're your markings." Loki explained. "They tell what—"

"—tribe I'm from. I know." Jane said. She had read about this aspect of the Jötunn anatomy. She was never going to adjust to that being her voice. It sounded so unlike her.

Jane took Loki's hand and hopped gracefully off the bed slab. She stood almost a foot taller than him in his Æsir form. She was so impressed with her new grace that she nearly missed the fact that Loki's arm was growing the same color as hers under her grasp. She let go of him and his Æsir flesh gradually reappeared.

"Well how the hell is this going to work?" she asked. "Even if you change my appearance, they'll know I'm Jötunn the moment we touch."

"Just how often were you planning to touch me, Jane Foster?" Loki grinned mischievously.

"Oh, right. You wish." She said.

He laughed and said, "Do I?"

Jane smacked Loki as hard as she had the first time they met and he went flying across the room.

"Wow!" Jane exclaimed. "I have wanted to do it like that for so long. How fun was that?"

Loki pulled himself off the icy ground and gave her a headshake.

"I think you're all better, huh?" he said, marching towards her. "Time to make you fit in again."

Loki pulled her mouth down to his and breathed into her quite forcefully. She had larger lung capacity now and he didn't stop until they were filled with his air. She could see his frame growing, the Jötunn taking over his form, until they were the same height. When he pulled away, his lips lingered on hers a moment too long and she felt a pang of lustful desire clawing within her. She took in his eyes, which were bright red now, and when she saw that they betrayed some what she'd just felt towards him, she quickly looked down at her hands. The icy blue colored Jötunn flesh was fading and her old skin tone replacing it. Her organs compressed inside of her as her frame shrank.

Her skin was not exactly as she remembered. She was more even toned and had a slight glow, like right after experiencing something pleasurable. _Is this Loki's doing?_ She wondered._ Is this how he saw me before?_

She looked up at him, now back to her human height. His eyes were green again and his skin a pale, smooth complexion.

"We should go now, Jane, before Nál has a change of heart." He said in a soft voice.

"What about the magic? Doesn't it come from the orka?" Jane asked. She was glad to find that in this form her voice sounded normal again.

Loki shook his head.

"Is it on Asgard then?"

"It is inside of you, Jane. I just breathed it into you." He said then eyed her cautiously. "But perhaps we should go to another realm first while you adjust to your new body."

He rubbed his face where she had hit him before and then flashed her a smile.

"Come on!" he said. "I know just the place."

~.~.~

When they exited the laboratory, Nál and her small council awaited them just outside the door. Jane recognized Skaði in the group even though she was now in Jötunn form and not Vanir, but neither of them acknowledged each other.

"Are you leaving us now?" Nál asked.

"I must beg our leave, so I might keep my promise to Jane." Loki said.

"Our exchange is complete and you are both most welcome to leave at any time." Nál said. "Though, I would like a moment with Jane, as she is now Jötunn."

Nál smiled at Jane, which she could only interpret as menacing even if she felt no malice from her.

"Please," Jane said to Nál with a slight bow.

Loki looked at her, surprised she would speak directly to Nál, but knew the situation was too delicate not to exercise his own caution. The last time he was on Jötunheim had not ended well and the reason for it stood among the small council, still looking as stunning as she always had. No doubt Skaði led Laufey's tribe now. Should Nál allow it, the duty would fall to him if he chose to renounce his Æsir ties and take it. Now that he had been discovered as alive again, it was something to consider. He could likely gain amnesty from Asgard here, if he really tried to make amends with the Jötnar.

He and Jane had been here a month and no one had attempted to harm him, so that was something. To his knowledge, no one on Jötunheim knew of his attempt to destroy their realm during his misguided vengeance against Thor a few years ago. If they did learn of it, he would be banished from the realm, or worse. Regardless, even as the only living direct heir, he could never assume the throne here since he had murdered the former king. While rape was distinguished as a worse offence than murder by the Jötnar, it was still specifically written into their laws that no one who killed an active ruler could assume the throne.

Nál did not wait for a reply from Loki after Jane's affirmation and led her by the hand to a small, private chamber. Before closing the stone door behind them, Nál turned to her council, who had casually surrounded Loki, and commanded, "Wait here."

Jane's form was Jötunn again under Nál's touch and even when she released her inside the chamber, her form did not change back to human.

"This chamber permits no magic." Nál explained. "It is our Chamber of Truth."

"So I am truly Jötunn? The change is real and permanent?" Jane asked.

"Yes." Nál said. "To be certain Jane, there are times to mock and trick Loki. This is not one of them. I had to keep my end of the bargain."

"Why did you want to study me? How am I unique?"

Nál did not answer immediately. Instead she was preparing what looked to Jane like an apple. Finally she turned to Jane and gave her the fruit.

"Eat this." Nál commanded. "It is the fruit of Iðunn and gives what Humans call immortality. The fruit is from the orchards of Asgard. Frigga bestowed me with it as a bereavement gift for Laufey. She did not understand that his death was the best thing to happen to the Jötnar. His petulant grudge against Odin made him a poor leader and many Jötnar suffered under his rule."

Jane took the fruit cautiously, unable to believe that she was about to access the one thing she thought she never would be allowed. She ate it and the burning pain she'd been feeling since waking up ceased. She sighed in relief. Nál gave her some water to wash down the fruit.

"We studied you, Jane, because you possessed the aether. The mortals should not be able to sustain any energy like that for more than a day." Nál explained. "Your Æsir friends did not want to alarm you, but your continued existence after possessing it for so long is an anomaly."

"My existence?"

"Yes." Nál nodded. "Before she was taken from us, Frigga relayed a message to the Triad."

"What message?" Jane asked.

She knew the Triad was an alliance of the queens in Asgard, Vanaheim, and Jötunheim. How the Æsir books explained it was more of a good faith initiative between leaders' wives, almost like a series of luncheons between First Ladies on Earth. Nál's tone indicated it was a bit more strategic than that.

"The message was 'The mortal is unique.'" Nál said.

"That's it?" Jane asked. "Nothing as to why or what that meant?"

Nál smiled again and it seemed only slightly less menacing this time.

"I suppose its true meaning will reveal itself in time. But know that the Triad works in your favor, Jane Foster."

Jane nodded and said, "Thank you." She was unsure how else to react.

Nál smiled at her once more. This time Jane saw nothing of menace. As she and Nál held each other's eyes, all she saw in their red depths was hope.

"Valfreyja will have given you your prophecy by now, but you will soon come to learn your fate." Nál said.

"What is the difference?" Jane asked.

"Fate is woven by the Norns at the Well of Mimir in the southern tip of Jötunheim. The pathway to fate is malleable based on the decisions we make, but the ultimate outcome remains steadfast. Prophecy differs in that it is a form of magic bred out of Vanaheim that foretells a specific event as it will occur. Due to this precision, prophecy will always unfold exactly as it is told. While it cannot be altered, one's fate may be reached by any combination of journeys."

Jane nodded and wondered what her fate would be if her prophecy was to kill the man who loved her.

"As dictated by the Norns, Loki's fate is aligned to yours now." Nál said. When Jane gave her a concerned look, she laughed and added, "I know how tiresome he can become. He is my son, after all. But you are stronger than you yet realize. Know Jane, that you are not alone. The realms may not favor Jötunheim, but you are always welcome here. You are Jötunn now and we will always protect our own."

Jane bowed her head slightly and Nál lifted her chin so their eyes could meet.

"You will notice soon enough that our markings are the same. While Loki belongs to Laufey's tribe, you belong to mine. We are not a callous group, Jane. You will fit in well."

Jane touched her forehead, tracing the grooves and looking at Nál's. She felt she might cry, but it was as if she had no tear ducts. It dawned on her that the Jötnar may not.

"This is so much to take in, I'm sorry." Jane said. "Do you have any books that might help me understand my new identity? The Æsir library is... incomplete."

"We do not. Our history is recorded in ice sheets and cannot be removed from our realm. But if you have any questions, we are linked as tribe members."

"Linked?"

"Yes. I cannot show you here because it is technically magic. Essentially you consume orka and we become telepathically linked."

Jane realized she had been right about the Jötnar examiners using telepathy.

"Can I turn it off?" she asked.

"Why would you want to do so? It is for your protection." Nál said. Her voice held caution.

"I only wondered." Jane smiled reassuringly. _Loki will know how to block it._ Jane thought. _How else would Laufey not have seen his death coming?_

Nál nodded and then turned to the door. "It is time for you and Loki to leave Jötunheim." She said.

Outside the chamber Jane quickly returned to human form. Loki gave her a searching look and then burst into a laugh. Jane shook her head and looked at Nál, who had become passive again.

"Thank you for your visit, Loki." Nál said, leading them out to the main hall of Utgard.

"It has been most intriguing." Loki replied and bowed.

Nál pulled an orb of orka from the air and spilled some of it into a vial. She sealed the vial and gave it to Jane, stating, "In case you have any questions."

Jane took the vial and gave a bow to Nál and the rest of the small council. Skaði gave her a quick wink after Loki had turned to leave. Jane smiled at her briefly and then followed Loki toward the front gates. The hall was no longer dark to Jane, even in this form her Jötunn eyesight remained intact, and as they emerged into the shrieking arctic winds outside, it seemed like daylight.

"Take my hand!" Loki yelled through the ice storm. "We won't survive in this form."

Jane took his hand and her body became a comfortable temperature again. They were suddenly on the flying boat and Jane gave him a surprised look.

"Shortcut." He grinned. "Let's get out of here."

"Good idea." Jane nodded. Even in Jötunn form the weather was brutal. She sat next to Loki and held the blue flesh of his ankle while he guided the boat away from Utgard.

~.~.~

Once they were out of the storm, Jane released Loki and took in the planet. She felt more at ease in these conditions than in the splendors of Asgard or especially the opulence of Vanaheim. She mused about what this said about her, that she preferred the austere to the elaborate.

"What did Nál do to you?" Loki asked. "You are too quiet."

Jane smiled to herself at Loki's assumption of Nál's malice.

"Nothing." Jane replied. "She told me I was part of her tribe and gave me some fruit."

"The apple of Iðunn?"

"Sure, sounds right." Jane shrugged, downplaying her true understanding. "Immortality fruit."

"That's a big deal, Jane." Loki said. His tone was serious. "Very few are permitted to eat from the tree of Iðunn."

"It healed my pain from the transition." Jane explained. Then she lied, saying, "I don't think there was more to it than that."

"I suppose she can't have you running around with mortality still a part of you if you're in her tribe." Loki said, mostly to himself.

Jane realized he had not expected Nál to react kindly to Jane. She knew his ego wouldn't want to hear Nál's actual message. Nál had essentially told her Loki was a passenger in her life, rather than the other way around. Jane was unsure how this would prove true though, as she remained cloaked from Heimdall and thus a victim to his whims. At least she could smack him with some actual strength now. Jane laughed at this thought.

"What?" Loki asked, looking bemused.

"Just remembering how you flew across the room today."

Loki gave her a narrow eyed look and then exclaimed, "Oh yes! I was taking you to Alfheim for magic practice."

"Really?" Jane brightened. "Thor refused to take me there. He said it was out of bounds for humans."

"That's true." Loki said. "Good thing you're no longer human."

Jane just nodded vaguely. She didn't feel not human, but she didn't feel entirely human either. Nál had been so kind to her, and she felt a sense of peace with Jötunheim since they'd first arrived. She wondered if she could renounce her identity as a human and take on that of a Jötunn. Loki never had done so. His path had been so different than hers though. Raised to hate the very thing he was, all for another's gain. She wondered if only Frigga truly had understood this about him.

She looked up at Loki to study his features. The wind raced through his hair and his eyes were bright. He was breathing deeply as if he meant to store the icy air of Jötunheim inside himself to access later. His faint smile belonged to his present emotions and not his schemes. He looked free. Jane wondered if Loki would ever come to terms with his own identity.

"Here we are, Jane!" Loki said looking down at her with boyish excitement. "You may want to hold onto something."

She grabbed hold of the boat's inner tubing and looked ahead to see they were about to crash into a massive frozen waterfall. Their speed was too fast to abandon course now. A second later Loki banked right and she saw the sliver in the cliff they were headed for. As they slipped inside the tiny slit in the rock wall, Jane let out an excited, "Woo!" and Loki laughed easily.

"And they say I'm mad!" he cried.

"_They_ don't have Jötunn eyesight." Jane smiled.

She saw him wiggle his eyebrows, his eyes focused intensely on the walls of this hidden portal. Jane felt a rush like she had when Thor first took her flying with him. The boat slipped out of the tunnel and into another waterfall. This one was not frozen and Jane shielded her eyes from the pounding water to take in scores of rainbows crisscrossing a golden canyon. The wide sky stretched bright blue for miles until settling into a pink and orange glow at the horizon.

"Welcome to the land of the Ljósalfar." Loki said.

"It's heavenly." Jane said, standing up.

"That is the idea." Loki smiled.

He moved a hand over her without actually touching her body. His gesture was almost like he was pulling something out of her, then he made a tossing motion over the side of the flying boat and water cascaded from his hand into the river below. Jane realized her clothing and hair were dry as Loki did the same thing to himself.

"Thanks" she said.

"You're welcome." Loki said. "Soon you will be able to do that yourself."

"Really?" Jane asked.

"Of course! That was extremely simple." Loki replied, shaking his head like Jane asked what 2 + 2 was.

Jane ignored his condescension and enjoyed the scenery. She had never even imagined somewhere as spectacular as this, it was almost unreal.

* * *

><p>Sitting on the couch in Thor's drawing room, Sif knew they were out of their depths. Once Heimdall had seen Jane discover Loki was still alive and had been impersonating Odin this whole time, they had immediately thrown him back in his old prison cell. Jane was too shaken to stay on Asgard and had returned to Midgard the next morning. Not exactly the timeline Valfreyja had prophesized, but close enough. That had been over a month ago.<p>

Jane's departure meant Thor's focus was entirely set on locating Odin. A week ago they had finally found him. He was in Odinsleep in the Valaskjálf chamber of the King's Quarters, which only the Asgard ruler's touch could open. Thor had to use mjölnir to break down the door. Within the chamber, Odin was further hidden from Æsir sight by a spell. Something that Sif knew only Lorelei or her sister Amora could have cast. Since Amora and her Jötunn partner Skurge had been banished from Yggdrasil centuries ago, it only served as further proof to Sif that Loki had been colluding with Lorelei this entire time. Sif did not understand why they had not executed Loki yet, but Thor would not allow anyone to even mention it.

Now that they had found Odin, their problems were actually greater than they had been before. Odin was sick. None of the healers recognized the disease. No one even understood how to test the disease to see what it was doing to him. They predicted his death to be imminent, perhaps a few weeks. As the healers all began to show symptoms of the disease, Odin and those infected were moved under strict quarantine. No one was permitted entry; not even Thor.

Sif was unsure how to handle Thor's reaction to this. She knew how to handle his anger, but he had not shown any anger.

As she looked at him sitting next to her, she wished Jane was there. Jane would know what to say or not say. She became infuriated again with Jane's cowardice in leaving them to go back to Midgard and said out loud, "I'm so mad at Jane."

"You mustn't be mad at Jane. What could she do?" Thor said without much emotion.

"Be here for you!" Sif yelled even though Thor had explained weeks ago that Jane already ended their relationship before she had discovered Loki's identity.

Sif stood up and began to pace the drawing room, finally pausing by the central fireplace. Thor walked over to her and put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her body against his. He buried his face in her thick hair and kissed the top of her head. Sif turned into his chest as she began to cry, her frustration seeping from her eyes. He put his other arm around her, embracing her for a long time as one side of their bodies heated immensely from the proximity of the fire. Finally it was too hot on their skin and they had to move away. Thor took Sif's hand into his own and led her from the drawing room and into his bedroom chamber.

While Thor closed and locked the door, Sif took in the bedroom, not having been in there for centuries. If anything of Jane's had been there before, it was gone now. The room was entirely Thor's in appointment and design.

Thor was in front of her again. He wiped stray tears from her cheeks and cupped her chin with his index finger and thumb. She looked up at him, blinking away tears as she met his eyes.

"I am sorry, Sif." He said.

Sif furrowed her brow and shook her head as if to ask, "For what?"

"For having been distracted for so long." He said.

As Thor leaned down to kiss her, his finger and thumb tilted her chin upwards towards him so their lips would meet that much sooner. Sif kissed him eagerly. Her emotions of anger and grief dissipated at the taste of him and she parted her lips to accommodate more of his mouth. Thor responded in kind and their tongues met greedily as his free hand wrapped around her torso and pressed her body against his own. Sif let herself lace her fingers through his golden hair, closing her eyes to enjoy the sensation.

Thor began to untie the back of her dress and Sif pulled his outer layer of fabric from his shoulders. He unhooked the metal fasteners keeping her dress up and the fabric fell easily to the limestone floor beneath them, leaving her in just a bottom undergarment with her breasts exposed to the cool air. Thor removed his tunic and she began to untie his trousers. Once he was naked, Thor pulled Sif's undergarment off and kissed her intensely while he picked her up off the ground. Sif wrapped her legs around his torso and he easily found his way inside of her.

Sif had not forgotten what it felt like to have Thor inside of her, but this was different than it had been two centuries ago. It felt more real and more secure. She moved her body over his and could feel his smile beneath her lips. She smiled back and they began to kiss lightly, tenderly.

She started to orgasm and clenched her lower muscles around Thor tightly causing him to begin to orgasm as well. The first orgasm always came quickly for the Æsir. Sif knew this now from the contrast of the relationship with her former Vanir lover some decades ago. Æsir bodies easily could have dozens of orgasms in one session, whereas the Vanir would only have one or two exceptionally explosive orgasms after hours or even days of foreplay.

Thor walked to the bed, Sif's body still wrapped around his, and lay on his back so that she was on top of him. His hands explored her flesh as she rotated her hips over him. After a while, Thor pulled her upper body down so that he could trace it with his lips. As he focused his mouth on her nipples, Sif began to orgasm again. She let out a noise of pleasure and Thor's tongue played more fervently with her breasts. As her orgasm finished, she pulled Thor's face to hers, enjoying the sensation of his beard against her skin. They kissed for a while until Thor flipped Sif onto her back and proceeded to thrust into her with deep penetration. They both came to orgasm multiple times in this position.

Sif pushed Thor off of her and turned on her side. He matched her movements and she hooked her leg over his so that he could penetrate her again. He pushed himself deeply inside her and wrapped his arm around her torso, cupping her breasts in his massive hand. He kissed her neck as he moved in and out of her and she let out a small giggle as he began to nibble on her earlobe.

Thor laughed at this and murmured into her ear softly, "I have missed you."

Sif reached her hand back to his face, caressing it a few times before responding, "And I you."


	9. Chapter 8

**_Songs for this chapter: "Copy of a" by NIN; "Time Is Running Out" by Muse_**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8<strong>

Loki flew the boat outside of the canyon to an enormous meadow surrounded by a sparse layer of trees and landed it easily.

"This is it?" Jane asked, a little disappointed with how short their journey on Alfheim had been.

"I don't really want the light elves checking in on us. We will mostly appear like Jötnar here to them. The light elves can see through most magic given how magic-based they are themselves." Loki explained as he hopped off the boat.

Jane followed after him, wondering when their magic training would begin.

Loki turned to face her as she landed on the soft grass.

"First things first," he said. "We are not friends. At no point should you think I care for you in any remote way."

Jane flinched and then nodded. Making friends with Loki was not on her list of life goals, and she only intended to feign any emotional attachment at all to him if it would expedite her being free of him.

"Secondly, there are two kill points that we should probably avoid if we hope to both leave Alfheim." Loki said. He cupped his hand on Jane's heart and then pressed the space just behind her ear. "As a Jötunn, it's nearly impossible to be killed while in disguise. In your true form however, those two places will always be fatal. So protect them! If you're in human form and are killed, you will transition into Jötunn form. Be prepared to protect your Jötunn self from additional attack. You are most vulnerable at the transition point."

"Is that how you did it on Svartalfheim?" Jane asked.

"Fooled Thor to think I was dead?" Loki clarified. "Yes. I created an illusion after that monster stabbed me and made the gullible half-wit grieve. The fool!"

"Okay, but is he really a fool for thinking you died when it looked like you died?" Jane said.

"Why didn't he know?" Loki said and quickly added, "I'll tell you why! Sentiment! He wanted our brotherly love to be restored in my death. As if we were ever brothers to begin with!"

"Right," Jane said, severely biting her tongue. She knew that Thor still had not moved on entirely from Loki's death. "So, is there a third thing I should know?"

"The third thing is that once you can fool me with your illusion, we can leave and return you to your precious Thor."

"All I have to do is fool you into believing something that isn't real?" Jane asked incredulously before adding, "You already do."

Loki turned his hand and the ground around Jane began to tremble.

"Earthquake, Jane. Now what?" he yelled.

Jane noted to herself to stop pissing him off before she focused on the practical ability to jump away from the extremely isolated earthquake.

On her first attempt, Loki just followed her. She had two options: block his magic or make an illusion of herself for him to follow. She decided to create an illusion, as blocking him seemed almost futile. _How do I create an alternate being?_ She asked herself. She knew a clone was a duplication of atoms, but in such a sophisticated form she would need some precision. She couldn't just duplicate herself; there weren't enough atoms to use. But around them was grass. Organic material. Maybe this could work.

She had to assume two things based on Loki's actions. First, she'd have to use her hand to conjure this magic—she could hardly call it science at this point. Second, it would all be originated from her mind. She would have to will what she wanted into place.

"The ground may split soon." Loki warned in an attempt to hurry her up.

That was when she realized there was a third option—she could see through a façade and disable it. She reached down and smacked the ground hard. It shimmered green and gold and stopped shaking.

"Okay," Loki said. "But did you recognize it was an illusion or just assume? You often have assumed correctly with me."

"I just assumed." Jane said. "How do I distinguish?"

"You need to tap into more of your brain." Loki said. "Right now you're operating at a minimal percentage, like most of the universe. But I breathed into you the capacity to access all of your brain."

"How can I do that?" Jane asked.

Loki frowned, trying to remember how his mother taught him this aspect.

"It's like..." he began. "It's like accessing an old memory. Something stored in your mind that you may never revisit. Something from your infancy, perhaps."

"Okay, so I need to act like I'm reaching into a part of my brain I'm not even aware I have?" Jane said.

"Exactly!" Loki smiled.

"That's really hard." Jane said.

"You haven't even tried yet!" Loki protested.

"Fine," Jane said. "But let's start smaller. How can I conjure something, like a teacup or something?"

"Conjuring is a collection and repurposing—"

"—of atoms." Jane finished for him. "I get _that_, it's the action of it that eludes me."

"So, imagine it, this teacup." Loki said. "And then find 'atoms' around you to rearrange into it."

In a shimmer of green and gold, he produced a beautiful porcelain teacup as he spoke. Jane focused her mind. She told herself to actually see the world as she always mentally did—as a massive assortment of atoms. To her astonishment, this worked. The grass, air, Loki, herself, the flying boat—they were all a hovering mass of atoms. They shook and trembled and whizzed and Jane knew she just had to collect a few here and few there to build the foundations of a teacup. It would not be perfect, of course, but it was only an illusion. Just a copy of a copy in her mind. She could do this. It was easy when she really thought about it.

Jane poised her hand to conjure the atoms together. The process moved quickly and soon she too had a gold lined teacup hovering over her free hand.

"And there you have it." Loki said. "In time you won't need to use your hand, but for now it's fine."

Jane became determined to not need her hand for simple things.

"So what about detection?" she said.

"Right, the original idea." Loki nodded. "I'm going to duplicate myself and then I want you to really focus on which version is the real me."

As Loki multiplied himself, Jane at first tried to remember which one was the original. When Loki transported his selves around, this became impossible. She tried to focus her mind, but it kept calling up how many copies there were. Finally she closed her eyes in frustration. That was how she saw it. The real Loki gave off an energy field. It wasn't thermal energy, which all the forms seemed to have, but rather like a lifeforce. Almost like the orka's glow, except gold.

She opened her eyes and quickly touched the real Loki to indicate she had figured it out.

"Good" Loki said, dropping his duplications. "You're learning fast, Jane. I thought you would."

When Jane found herself smiling at his praise, she felt guilty for craving it in the first place. She resolved that she was only glad for the praise because the sooner she mastered magic, the sooner she would be able to create an illusion that would fool Loki. This would get her back to Asgard so she could turn Loki over to Thor and Odin. What she would do after that, she wasn't sure. Being Jötunn now altered her original plan to move back to Earth and work for Tony. _Maybe I can create a new life on Jötunheim?_ She reasoned.

"Let's work on creating more complicated illusions." Loki said, snapping Jane back to her present reality. "Like duplicating yourself or projecting another person."

"Okay," Jane said. "How do I do that?"

"It's just like with the teacup, but to make it convincing, you have to really understand how the person talks, expresses herself, carries herself, all of it. It is usually easiest to duplicate yourself since you know how it is to be you."

"So, the duplication is just an illusion? How were you Odin then? I touched you as Odin and it didn't dissolve the illusion."

"Ah, that was not an illusion. That was me shifting forms. Basically, you can cast infinite illusions, if the—what do you call them? Atoms?"

"Yes," Jane frowned. "What do you call them?"

"Dropar." Loki said, his voice shifting to an Æsir accent as he spoke.

"Dropar..." Jane rolled the word around a few times before refocusing. "Okay, so to cast illusions, it is only is limited to how much dropar is around. Basically you're all set unless there's a vacuum?"

"What's a vacuum?"

"The lack of dropar. Space that contains no matter." Jane explained.

"Lofttæmi?" Loki said.

"Sure?" Jane shrugged.

Loki nodded and said the word 'vacuum' a few times before saying, "But you don't mean dark matter, right?" Because lofttæmi doesn't have that."

"Of course not. Dark matter obviously contains matter. Don't be ridiculous, Loki."

Loki smiled at Jane and added, "Dark matter is a whole other topic. We will cover that another day."

"Oh?" Jane asked with excitement.

Loki just laughed. He had not expected Jane to take to magic this easily; it was as if she already knew all the tools. He thought this would have been more like teaching a child—or worse, an Æsir warrior—but Jane was smart. He liked her mind. She reminded him a little of Erik Selvig, but she was superior. Selvig was too old and embittered to truly have an open mind. There was something about Jane that drew him in; a limitlessness to her. He realized this was how he felt about himself.

Loki could hear Jane talking and tuned himself back in. When he did he realized two Janes were talking.

"How do I separate the speech?" both Janes were saying.

Loki stared a moment, shocked at how successful her first self duplication attempt had been. It had taken him weeks of practice to hone this skill as a child.

"What? Did I do it wrong?" the Janes asked and she turned to look at her illusion, which also turned. It looked correct from the back to her. She'd even mimicked the new skin tone Loki had given her versus her old, duller one.

"Um," Loki stammered, still in shock, but never at a loss for words. "You need to separate your brain into two thought patterns... like you're talking to yourself almost?"

The Janes furrowed their brows.

"You know...like that inner voice telling you things. Your conscience." Loki said, finally remembering the word.

"Since when did you know what a conscience was?" one of the Janes asked.

Loki laughed, blinking once to determine which Jane was real. He put his hand through her illusion and looked the real Jane in the eyes. "Now, do something to impress me." He said.

His voice was low and confident. Jane felt her heartbeat increase tempo and knew it was not out of fear. She held his gaze, more in defiance to her unwanted emotions towards him than anything else, and produced another illusion.

"Is that how you see me?" Loki grinned, taking in Jane's new illusion of himself. He gave her a wink before adding, "I'm quite attractive."

"Oh, you have no idea, Loki." Jane said the sentence slowly, severing the head off of the Loki illusion as she did until it detached and fell to the ground.

Loki stepped backwards and gave Jane a once over before looking back to his severed head in the grass. He stepped into the illusion to dissolve it and then said coldly to Jane, "I said impress me."

Jane did not have time to respond before he was on top of her. He gripped her throat in his hand, their skin turning that icy blue as they shifted forms. Loki held Jane in the air and she began clawing at his arms so he would loosen his grip. Without oxygen flowing to her brain, she found that she could not perform magic. Not that she even knew how to transport herself from his grip anyway.

Jane remembered she had a larger lung capacity in this form and worked to slow her heart rate in order to regulate her oxygen stores. Loki was talking, but she could only focus on some of his words. She could tell from the tone he was threatening her. Finally he released her, throwing her across the meadow. To her surprise, she landed on all fours like a cat. Loki was approaching, his form shrinking back to Æsir, and Jane scrambled to her feet gasping for air as she did.

"You think I would create a weapon that could actually kill me?" Loki was shouting. "Don't be so foolish, Jane."

_A weapon?_ Jane thought. Her brain caught up and she realized she was the weapon. The question remained though, one she'd wondered on Jötunheim before the transition.

"How do you plan to use me as a weapon?" she asked.

"Why would I reveal that to you?"

"I think you're lying." Jane said. "I don't think you even have a plan."

"Oh, there is a plan, Jane." Loki snapped. "It is a glorious plan."

"Nope. I don't believe you." Jane said. "I think you are just a lonely little boy and so you thought you'd fashion yourself a friend."

"Jane, I am not your friend." Loki said.

"Loki, you are incapable of being a friend." Jane said evenly.

They stared at each other for a while until Loki finally said, "Let's get back to work. I expect perfection from you before can leave."

"That's impossible." Jane said. "Your concept of perfection is flawed."

"Is that so?" Loki hissed. "And what of your concept of perfection? Is Thor how you perceive perfection?"

"Now who is the foolish one, Loki?" Jane sneered at him. "You presume to know me simply because you've stalked me for months. You know nothing about me, about what I truly want, what I value. You have not been inside my head. You do not know my thoughts."

Loki let out a laugh and touched Jane's cheek with the back of his hand. Their skin changing as he said, "I guess I don't have to wait any longer."

Before Jane could do anything, she felt the sharp pain of a migraine growing. It was as if something was pushing into her brain, causing it to expand against her skull. Then she knew. Loki was inside her mind.

There had to be a way to block him. If this was what he'd meant about no secrets with Frigga, there was no way he let his mother into his mind at all times. Adolescence was too embarrassing for that. She realized this thought had led her to imagine Loki masturbating and chided herself for thinking it.

"You're disgusting, Jane." Loki said out loud.

Unfortunately this led her to thoughts of her own adolescence. A memory she had long repressed emerged vividly, like someone had pressed play on a video. She was in sixth grade gym class and they were running laps. Jane was not the fastest or the slowest, but that day she had horrible abdominal pain. As she ran, she felt liquid running down her leg. She looked down to see it was blood.

Loki could feel the panic Jane went through in her memory. The idea that she was dying kept flashing through the younger Jane's mind. He couldn't understand why she was so afraid until the memory shifted into a nighttime scene. Jane was on a highway, wrapped in a coarse blanket. He could tell she was cold, but unable to feel it. Blue and red lights kept flashing and voices could be heard all around her. He could make out the words, "She's bleeding internally. There's nothing we can do. I'm so sorry." Then he felt Jane begin to experience a grief he knew quite well. Thor had never once mentioned Jane's parents and this was why. They were dead.

"Make it stop. Please, Loki." Jane whispered out loud.

Loki pulled his mind from hers and Jane collapsed to the ground, holding her head as it throbbed in pain. Loki rubbed his eyes, soothing out the lesser pain he had from being a passenger in her brain. He stood there over Jane, giving her the privacy to recover. He knew she would likely ask him a million questions now.

Instead, he felt her probing into his brain. _How did she figure this out already?_ He wondered before putting up a mental block. He pushed her out and she tried again. He realized with some admiration that she was teaching herself how to shield her mind from him, so he let her continue until she was too exhausted to carry on.

Loki crouched next to Jane and she looked at him. She looked frazzled and ready to fall asleep at any moment. He took her body in his arms and transported them to the flying boat, placing her on the padded floor.

"You should sleep, Jane." He said. "We'll continue our training tomorrow."

"It's not dark out." Jane said.

"The Ljósalfar control their skies." Loki said. "When they decide to sleep, darkness will fall."

"How? How is it not in orbit?"

"Alfheim is on one of the heavens. They exist above the stars."

"How is that even possible?"

"Magic." Loki said. "This is where true magic originates. Now get some sleep."

Jane made a noise of agreement and conjured a blanket to wrap around herself. As she snuggled into it, Loki smiled to himself. He had not yet taught her how to create solidified illusions. Jane's mind was an anomaly.

He closed his eyes, willing sleep to come to him. He felt like he'd not slept in weeks and realized that was accurate. He had not trusted the Jötnar enough to sleep while on Jötunheim. It still would not come, so he checked in with his illusions of himself and Jane. Nothing was happening on Midgard and he left illusion Jane to her own busybody devices. Full of his brain's knowledge, she was making great progress in space-time travel development. He knew exactly which mortal would have the resources to carry out her inventions, too.

The situation on Asgard was different. Something was wrong, but he could not tell what. No one would speak to him in his jail cell. Thor still had not come to see him, nor Odin. Perhaps they had not uncovered Odin yet. He and Jane had been gone for more than a month though, and he was again amazed at how stupid the Æsir were. He decided to hang out as his illusion for a bit to try and collect more information.

There were murmurs and then some shouts. He moved his illusion to the cell's glass wall to have a better vantage point. People were being brought into the prison by the scores. They looked Æsir though, but not quite right. Their skin was gray and their movements slow and sickly. There was a knock on the other glass wall and Loki turned to find Sif staring at his illusion. He walked to her and found she had tears in her eyes.

"Crying for the injustice of my imprisonment, Sif?" he said as his illusion.

"I will never shed tears for something as meaningless as your existence." She said to his illusion.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

"Thor did not want to do it, so I offered to come and tell you." Sif said.

"Tell me what?"

"Odin is dead." Sif said.

"So you did find him." Loki said.

"Weeks ago. He was sick when we found him. Clearly your doing." Sif said. Then she smiled at Loki and added, "Now that he is deceased, you will be tried for regicide."

"I had nothing to do with it!" Loki protested. "He was perfectly well the last time I saw him."

Sif just stared at him a moment longer before turning on her heels to leave. Loki pulled away from the illusion and found the sky was dark on Alfheim.

_What in Hel is happening there? _He wondered. He had not harmed Odin the entire time, merely leaving him in concealment under Odinsleep. He'd visited him right before going to Jane's study to read her journals and he had been perfectly healthy. Loki sighed. This was going to severely thwart his original plan.

Just then Jane stirred and suddenly shot upright. Loki jumped a little bit, startled.

"Jane?" he said cautiously.

She turned to him, her eyes Jötunn red, and said in her Jötunn voice, "Odin is dead."

Loki's eyes widened.

"How do you know that?" he demanded.

Jane closed her eyes and shook her head, as if coming out of a trance. Her eyes were brown again when she reopened them.

"No, I just know." She said in her normal voice. "I just felt it. Do you know what happened?"

"You just felt it?" Loki asked.

"Don't be mad. I have no clue what happened." Jane said.

Loki immediately pushed into her mind, but she blocked him.

"Damnit, Jane!" Loki yelled.

"Fuck you." She said. "I'm not letting you in."

Loki glared at her and she glared back.

Finally he relaxed and said, "I'll explain what I know if you explain what you know. Though would it not be easier if we just accessed each other's thoughts?"

Jane shook her head. Whatever she had just experienced was not something Loki needed to know she could do. It was almost like a prophecy had come through her in her dream. As if she had received a vision.

"I just felt his death." She said. "I felt his lifeforce being taken."

This was a lie. She had seen it happen. She had seen Odin's lifeforce being taken from his body to Valhalla. She had seen Frigga smiling as he arrived in the hall. Then Frigga had looked past Odin, directly to her, and said, "Your time has come, Jane."

"But how? You would need to either be another species all together or possess the soul gem to actually feel someone's death." Loki said, his mind busy. "Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless you were linked to Odin." Loki said.

"What does that mean?"

"When two people's fates are linked, the death of one is experienced by the other." Loki said. "I was linked to Frigga, for example. When she died to save you, it was too overbearing to handle."

"So, is that what happened to you now with Odin?" Jane asked realizing that Loki was acting like he already knew of Odin's death.

Loki contemplated lying to Jane. Finally he decided the truth was more useful.

"No. Sif told my imprisoned illusion. I'm now on trial for his murder."

"But you didn't kill him." Jane said.

"Yes, I know." Loki said.

"How will that even work? They'll know you're an illusion. You aren't there. Can you even make yourself solid from here?"

"So many questions, Jane." Loki said. "I thought you were going to sleep? It's nighttime now."

Jane finally took notice of the dark.

"No stars?" she asked.

"We're above the stars. I already explained that." Loki said.

"I know, but it's just...unsettling." Jane said. "The stars ground me."

Loki smiled sweetly and said, "If you close your eyes, I'm sure you can imagine the stars."

"You're not getting in my mind." Jane eyed him.

Loki just grinned.

"What are we going to do now?" Jane asked. "Surely this was not in your original plan."

"You underestimate me!"

"No, I don't." Jane said. "Do you know what happened to Odin? How did he die?"

"Sif said he was sick." Loki said.

"Oh." Jane said, frowning.

"What?" Loki asked. "What do you know?"

"Just something Skaði said on Vanaheim."

"Wait, you know Skaði? You acted like strangers on Jötunheim." Loki said.

"Like I said, you don't really know me at all." Jane smiled smugly. "How do you know Skaði?"

"Hm." Loki uttered. "What did she tell you Vanaheim?"

"Nothing," Jane said. "She mentioned a darkness in Asgard. But everyone was afraid of you then, thinking it was Odin, I just assumed that was what she meant."

"Darkness?" Loki said, thinking of the grey skin of the Æsir.

"Why didn't you tell me that?" Jane asked, but her lips weren't moving.

Loki quickly cleared his mind best he could, but he was running two illusions on two realms and there was no way to entirely blank out.

"Get out." He said.

"Nope, think I'm gonna poke around." Jane thought into his head.

She was delighted to find that her own thoughts were private when she was inside his mind. She could feel his annoyance, not that she was in there but that was learning true magic so quickly.

"So, show me these sick people." She said.

Loki's mind struggled and then finally gave in and released the visual to her. She scanned Sif's expression and saw something Loki had clearly missed: worry. Sif was very worried about something. The way she said Thor's name was too ominous. Thor would've delivered this news himself. Why hadn't he? _What are they keeping from Loki?_ Jane wanted to go deeper, to see more of Loki's life from prison. She needed more pieces to make the puzzle whole. But another memory took over his mind, Loki unable to stop it.

Jane first felt his arousal. She looked to see what was causing it and found herself staring at two Jötunn eyes that belonged to Skaði. She was approaching Loki, undressing as she did. Jane felt Loki take Skaði into his arms, the surge of lust coursing throughout. There was more though, a tenderness buried within him. Jane realized he'd had feelings for Skaði.

Skaði was biting him, moving down his chest. She could see from Loki's perspective how his Jötunn body looked naked. She started to memorize the details of Skaði in the scene. Maybe this would be her way back to Asgard. If she could imitate Skaði long enough to fool Loki, he'd have to keep his end of the deal. Especially now with Odin dead. In what world would Loki leave an open throne unclaimed? No world Jane could imagine. The sensation of physical pleasure slammed her hard and she realized Skaði had taken Loki into her mouth.

"Are you enjoying this, Jane?" Loki's voice said into her ear. "If I recall correctly, this particular instance is going to last quite a while. You may want to get more comfortable."

Jane pulled herself from his mind, rubbing her eyes at the pain. She still felt turned on and tried to process that she had just experienced being a male. She shuddered and her body hit Loki's as she did. She saw he was much closer than before, sitting next to her, nearly touching her thigh with his own. As he held his head in pain, she wondered if the memory was even real.

"So, you and Skaði, huh?" Jane asked in a teasing voice.

"Oh, she hates me." Loki said, still holding his head.

"Not from the vantage point I had."

"Yeah," Loki said. He looked at Jane and shrugged, "Old memory."

"Pre-New York?" Jane asked.

"Just barely, yes." Loki said.

"Your timeline is somewhat predictable." Jane said.

Loki nodded and then felt recovered.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" he asked her, smirking.

"No, I didn't." Jane said. "Maybe some other time."

"I can just show you now." Loki laughed. "I'm sure Thor will be thrilled to learn that you slept with his brother."

Jane was confused for a moment and then realized Loki had meant the sexual memory when he asked if she found what she was looking for. _Men._ She thought.

"You truly are a fool, Loki." She said. Her voice was distant, almost wistful.

Loki's hand moved to her thigh, the jeans' fabric keeping them in non-Jötunn form. Jane grabbed his wrist and removed his hand from her body.

"Don't touch me without permission." She snarled.

Loki raised his eyebrows at her, but said nothing. He moved away from her to the other side of the boat.

"I'm sleeping now." He said. "I won't be going easy on you tomorrow, so you'd better get some rest."

Jane put up a secondary mind block and lay down on the boat. She pulled the blanket up to her chin and stared at the starless sky. Frigga's words replayed in her mind.

_Your time has come. _

_The mortal is unique._

Jane sighed. Nothing made sense. She closed her eyes, hoping to shut off her mind. She wondered how Loki did it. They'd only been here what seemed like a day and Jane felt like her mind would never stop. It was exhausting, even for her. _Perhaps this is why he is insane._ She mused.

The sound of Loki's steady breathing filled the otherwise silent air. She tried to enter his mind, but he was blocking her.

"Go to sleep, Jane." Loki murmured.

After a moment his rhythmic breathing resumed and Jane let her mind focus only on that. Eventually she fell asleep.

~.~.~

Jane's rest was not peaceful. First she had a nightmare about the aether. It was similar to the ones she'd had right after it possessed her. There had been months of nightmares for her. Thor would hold her when she was with him, but when she was alone, when Thor was away, she would imagine herself wrapped in Loki's cloak. Those nights it felt like her only protection against the darkness inside of her.

Tonight was no different. The aether possessed her, she used it to spread darkness to all the realms, and then it left her no longer needing a host. When she woke alone in her bed, she was on Asgard. A green cloak was beside her, so she wrapped it around her body to calm down. But the cloak was attached to Loki. He wrapped his body around her. The cloak was over her head and he pulled it tightly around her face until she couldn't breathe. Jane began to suffocate in the green fabric until she finally screamed, "This isn't real!"

She woke with a start, gasping for air. Loki was sitting up across the boat, staring at her.

"You have a really complicated relationship with me, Jane." He said.

"No," Jane sputtered, trying to compose herself. "I don't have any relationship with you."

"I see." He said with his eyebrows raised.

How he said those words reminded Jane of breaking up with Thor. She realized too late her mind was still vulnerable to Loki.

"What is this?" Loki said. "You too have shattered the heart of the mighty Thor? My, my, Jane! We have more in common than I realized."

Jane said nothing.

"You've been keeping secrets. How exciting!" Loki continued. "What more will I discover in your head?"

Jane lay back down, too exhausted to fight.

"Go ahead, ravage me." She thought bitterly. "My brain is all yours. Take it. Take it all."

She could hear Loki sigh and then the pain of his mind's removal overcame her. She blinked away tears of pain in lieu of holding her head. Loki left her mind alone the rest of the night. Discovering that she had broken up with Thor triggered the basis of a new plan and he needed to work out the details.

Jane fell asleep again, unable to stay awake. This time she had what felt like a vision. It was one of death. She saw the whole of Asgard wrapped in a shadow that seeped into its veins like the venom of a snake. The people were dying with no hope. She saw Sif unable to stand, so overcome with grief. Behind her lay Thor. His body was ashen and his lifeforce dwindled.

One of Odin's ravens, Muninn, spoke then, saying, "Who will lead the realms? Who will deliver us into the light?"

Muninn stared at Jane with his cold brown eye until the other raven, Huginn, joined him. As the vision pulled away, Jane found herself looking at her own reflection in the mirror of the King's Chambers. Muninn and Huginn were perched on her shoulders. In her hand was the royal scepter.

Jane's reflection said to the ravens, "I will save Asgard. I will lead the realms."


	10. Chapter 9

**_Songs for this chapter: "Undisclosed Desires" by Muse; "The World Waits" by Murray Gold_**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9<strong>

Jane awoke from the vision to a blue sky overhead. She could hear Loki moving on the boat, but she felt that she wasn't ready to face him yet. _Why am I now having visions? Is it because of Alfheim?_ Jane wondered. _And what did that vision mean? I'm to rule Asgard?_ It did not seem possible. More importantly, though, if this vision was legitimate, it meant Asgard was dying. Thor was dying. They would have to go back soon if they were to make any difference at all. She wondered how much Loki knew.

As if on cue, Loki's face hovered into her immediate vision, a mad grin on his face. She blinked, adjusting to the proximity of his face, and he smiled wider.

"Time for training, crazy girl." He said.

"I'm crazy? Compared to what?" Jane asked.

"I saw your dream, remember?" he said. "I watched you working through your emotions for me."

"Having emotions for you would make me crazy." Jane remarked dryly. "How lucky I do not."

"Yes, well, I'm teaching you how to fight today, so let's hope you can focus. Wouldn't want you dying on me."

"Why do I need to be able to fight?"

"Because everyone in Asgard can fight." Loki spat. "Honestly, Jane, what were you doing all those hours in the library reading about Asgard?"

"You were watching me the whole time. You tell me." Jane shrugged.

They had leapt down to the meadow during the conversation and Loki now pulled out his dagger. Jane had never used a weapon before and was unsure what to conjure. She found herself holding twin sais like Raphael in the ninja turtles and had to laugh at this. How she would use these she had no idea. She changed to twin daggers instead and Loki began to circle her.

"First I'll fight as Æsir," he said. "Then Vanir and then Jötunn. You will need to be able to take on them all."

Jane didn't ask why. She didn't push for clarity of his plan. Whatever he was doing, she knew she needed to know how to fight for her own prophecy. Suddenly she knew what weapon to use. She moved away from Loki and conjured her daggers it into a bow and arrows.

"Long range?" Loki asked. "I always prefer close combat. It's much more intimate."

"Should I fight to my enemy's strengths or to my own?" Jane asked. The bow wasn't exactly a strength though, given that she'd never done archery.

"You should be able to adapt." He said, throwing his dagger at her. She dodged it easily and shot an arrow at him. Loki didn't move as the arrow whizzed by him.

"You call that your strength?" Loki frowned.

Jane shot another arrow, this time it was somewhat on target. Loki caught it easily and hurled it back at her, guiding it with magic as it flew. Jane couldn't dodge it and it struck her purposefully in the arm. To her surprise, it barely stung and she ripped it from her flesh to leave a bleeding wound.

Loki was in front of her then and she pushed the bloody arrow against his chest.

"I'm going to heal you." He said, casually disassembling the atoms of the arrow as if it posed no threat at all. "You need to learn to use your strengths."

Jane glared at him.

"Stop glaring and watch." He said, rolling his eyes. His hands hovered over the wound and green light emanated from his palms. She could feel the broken tissue weave itself back together until finally the whole thing was sealed, leaving just the blood stain and rip on her shirt sleeve.

Loki lifted her shirt hem to expose her stomach and sliced her lightly with his dagger, which he'd conjured back to himself from behind Jane.

"Ow." Jane said even though it hadn't hurt.

"Now heal it." Loki said.

He continued to hold up her shirt while she placed her hands over the long wound. On Earth she'd need stitches for this.

"Why is my blood red? Is Jötunn blood red?" Jane asked.

"No, it's bluish black, like the color of your claws." Loki said. "Under mortal guise, you bleed mortal blood."

"I see." Jane said, wondering how her claws actually worked. She'd not realized she even had claws. "And the magic, why is it green? Is that your doing?"

"No," Loki laughed. "No, my clothing is green because of the magic being green. I liked the color of it as a child, that it was only mine and not Thor's."

"I don't even know what to do here." Jane admitted. "I tried to conjure myself back together, but it's clearly not accepting that."

"It's more complex than that." Loki said. "At the risk of sounding sentimental, you need to feel it from the heart."

"You're never at risk of sounding sentimental." Jane smirked. "No one would believe it."

"Shall I count how many times I have saved your life, Jane?"

"Refraining from killing me doesn't count as saving my life."

"It should." Loki protested.

Jane laughed at his absurdity and this triggered the energy flow. She didn't have to imagine anything, it was all physically driven by her feelings.

"This is so weird." She said. "The mind stuff I get. But this is…"

"Too emotional. I know." Loki nodded. "I blame the elves."

"The dark elves?" Jane asked, alarmed.

"No, no, the light elves. The Ljósalfar." Loki said. "They're the originators of true magic. I told you this."

"Is that why you brought me here, so it would be easier to learn?"

Loki winced before saying, "On the contrary. It should be harder to learn here. One does not whet their blade on a soft stone, after all."

"So, why is it so easy?" Jane said.

"I don't know. Perhaps the Ljósalfar favor you. You are far more gifted at magic than shooting arrows." Loki shrugged. "Which is why I need you to focus on your strengths. What do you hate the most, Jane?"

"What?" she asked.

"You are Jötunn. Your greatest asset is also your greatest curse. The Jötnar are known and feared for their absolute rage. When they hate something, they're nearly unstoppable. So, what do you hate?"

"I hate you." Jane said casually.

"No, you really don't. Jötnar cannot hate their own kind. It's against their principles."

"How are you my own kind? We're not even from the same tribe plus you're Æsir and I'm Human." Jane said. "And I wasn't raised Jötunn, so why would I have adapted their principles?"

"It's in your blood!" Loki yelled.

"It's in yours too and you killed Laufey, another Jötunn and your father. Surely you had to hate him in order to kill him!"

"No, I hated Odin!" Loki snarled. "Why are we even talking about this?"

"Because you asked what I hate." Jane cried. "And if I'm not allowed to hate you, then I don't think I hate anything."

"Then you're lost." Loki said. "Because hate is the only way to harness all of your power."

"Surely there is another way. Perhaps you were never patient enough to figure it out!" Jane shot back.

"What about Malekith?" Loki asked.

"Thor killed him. What's left to hate?" Jane said.

"Yet he plagues your dreams?"

"You were in my head. Did you see Malekith?"

"No," Loki realized.

"No. It was me and darkness and you trying to murder me—which by the way is the first time that happened."

"The darkness then. You hate that?"

"I'd say I fear it more than hate it." Jane said.

"What you'd become if you unleashed the darkness?" Loki tried.

"It's a dream, not real, so I can't really hate it."

"But if it was real? You're immortal now so you could viably possess an infinity stone. What if you had the aether again, but this time you destroyed everything?"

"I wouldn't do that!" Jane protested.

"How do you know?" Loki yelled. "How do you know where you'll stop when you have no limits?"

"Why can't I just hate you, Loki?" she screamed.

"Because I don't want you to!" he screamed back. Loki transported himself away from her, appalled with his admission.

Jane gasped. It wasn't the first time Loki had shown emotion towards her since he took her from Asgard, but it was certainly the most direct occurrence. His first rule of training on Alfheim ran through her head again, particularly the part where he'd said, "At no point should you think I care for you in any remote way." Jane decided he was just attempting to bait her now. He probably just wanted to practice fighting and thought this would trigger her. She wondered if she should go over to him.

Jane looked at the world as atoms and saw all the dark matter in the air. The seeming voids between the visible atoms. He was going to teach her this today, how to use dark matter. She puzzled it out and realized it was how he transported himself. She had thought he disappeared and then reappeared, but it wasn't at all the case.

With renewed excitement, Jane began to map a route to where Loki stood brooding. If she moved a few atoms out of the way, she could take a straight line there. Green and gold flowed from her and she found herself pulling apart to fly through the dark matter pathway. At the destination, her atoms reassembled and she wiped off her jeans as if a stray gas particle had gotten caught up in the material.

"Hey," she said softly.

Loki visibly jumped and Jane couldn't stop herself from laughing.

"Why are you so good at this?" he yelled.

"You chose me for a reason." Jane said. "You said so yourself. You didn't pick anyone else. Not Sif, not Skaði, not Thor, hell, not even Lorelei."

"Lorelei? What in Hel does she have to do with anything?"

"I'm just throwing out names, Loki. I don't even know how who Lorelei is really." Jane said.

"She's a sorceress quim who gives excellent fellatio." Loki said without much emotion. "Why?"

"No reason." Jane said. She decided the Skaði shapeshifting idea was out. Clearly Loki preferred blow jobs and that was nowhere in the cards for Jane. She tried to remember why she'd come over here in the first place, but the image of Loki's memory of Skaði kept playing in her head. She decided to focus on him instead of Skaði if she had to relive this. His smooth abs, much more visibly shaped than Thor's due to his slenderness. His muscular hand grabbing Skaði's hair. His taut forearm, icy blue.

"Jane?" Loki said softly.

She looked at him quickly, snapping out of the memory's image. He was in Jötunn form. She looked down and saw that she was holding his forearm. No, she was stroking it. _God, how embarrassing._ She groaned inwardly.

She dropped her hand, not looking back at him. She heard him laugh.

"I cannot recall now what we were doing or talking about." Loki said. "But I think you need some actual fight training."

"Yes, please." Jane said and nodded, eager to never mention what just happened.

"If you do find something to hate, I'll know." He added before taking a swing at her.

Jane had not been paying attention and went flying across the meadow. She landed on all fours again and looked up in time to see Loki charging. She duplicated herself and then transported herself behind him. He stopped mid-run and spun to face her, a grin on his face.

"That's my go-to!" he exclaimed.

"It's so obvious." Jane said.

"I know. Yet everyone falls for it!"

"Everyone but us." Jane said.

"They cannot see the way we can."

"No," Jane said. "There is no one like us."

As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized they were undeniably true.

"Maybe on another galaxy." Loki smiled. "I haven't visited them all."

They were circling each other now, both shielding their minds from the other.

"Not that I'm not enjoying our little tête-a-tête, but I thought you were teaching me to fight different species and not just you?" Jane said.

"You're right." Loki said. "Come here."

"Um…we're fighting?"

"No, I need to turn us Jötunn." He explained.

Jane went to him, still blocking her mind and he placed her hand on the side of his neck. They changed form and Loki let out a growl as he extended his claws. He dug into his wrist and smattered some of his blood on Jane's face.

"That's really gross." She said.

"Shut up." He said, mimicking her voice.

He then dug into her wrist with a clean claw and put her blood on his skin. The pain of his cut in her arm felt good, almost in a sensual way. Her claws extended from her fingers in a feline manner and without meaning to do so, she let out a growl as it happened. Part of Jane wanted to rip Loki apart just to feel the bone under his flesh. She was hardly disturbed by this thought; it just felt so right.

"You're gonna need to move." Jane said. "Otherwise, I'm actually about to kill you."

"I'd like to see you try." Loki challenged.

Jane felt the anger bubbling in her. Like a shaken soda, she was ready to explode. Loki gave her a red-eyed smirk and it set her over the edge. She tore deeply into him with her claws, letting out a howling growl as she did. Loki fought back and they were soon bounding around the field like two massive animals. Jane couldn't think about anything but inflicting pain on Loki. She wanted him to beg her for mercy. She wanted to see the look in his eye when she went for the kill.

After what felt like an hour of running and clawing and gnashing, Jane had Loki pinned beneath her. She was about to bite him behind the ear when she felt his mouth on the space behind her ear. The illusion beneath her shimmered away and she grew hot with embarrassment. Loki kissed the space his mouth occupied and stood up, spinning her body to face his.

"Use your strengths." He said.

Jane stood up easily, her stance even with his.

"Why do I want to kill you so badly?" she asked.

Loki shrugged and said, "I guess you found something to hate."

Jane looked at her body, which was covered in cuts and seeping blackish-blue blood. She surveyed Loki and was pleased that he looked equally as beat up.

"We need to clean up." Loki said. "Otherwise our Jötunn blood will just linger and we'll stay in this form."

"Is that so bad?" Jane asked.

"You've really taken to the Jötnar." He said, giving her an amused look.

"I'm just not biased against them." Jane said. "They are pretty awesome. You realize they are all intellectuals and scientists? They make the Æsir look like apes. And don't even get me started on the Vanir."

"And what of the Humans? Do you have such disrespect for them as well?" Loki pressed.

"Don't pretend your opinion differs." Jane sneered. "You think the Æsir a pathetic bunch of fools!"

"Who is this new Jane?" Loki asked. His red eyes were full of life and excitement. "I like her!"

"You've always liked me." Jane said.

She transported herself to the boat and started it up. As she was flying away Loki transported himself to the boat deck.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked.

"I'm bored. I'm going to see more of Alfheim. You're welcome to join me." Jane said.

Loki took the controls from her forcefully. Jane snarled at him and he roared back.

"Maybe I was unclear before." He said. "The Ljósalfar will not permit us to be here if we are not in their favor. If we go pushing into their affairs, they will kill us."

Loki turned the boat back towards where they had been.

"You were not clear about that." Jane said.

She started conjuring Loki's blood from her body and throwing it over the edge of the boat. Finally she changed form back to Human and a sense of horror passed through her as she realized that she would have murdered him without a second thought. Yet he didn't kill her.

"How do you control it?" Jane asked.

"The urge to kill?" Loki clarified.

"Yes."

"I can't." Loki said.

"But you didn't kill me."

"I never wanted to." He said. "You wanted to kill me though. What happened?"

"Your blood." Jane said quietly. "You turned me into an animal."

"A monster." Loki corrected her.

"The Jötnar are not monsters." Jane said.

"And yet you can't control your urge to kill." Loki mused. "Interesting definition."

He had landed the boat by then and jumped to the ground. Jane stayed in the boat, sitting with her knees pulled to her chest. _What has happened to me?_ She thought.

"We're not done training." Loki called to her.

"I can't." Jane said.

"Don't tell me you're having an identity crisis now." Loki groaned. "New species, new capacities, new morals. It's fine."

"For you, perhaps." Jane said.

"Oh, I was much more petulant than this. You don't remember The Destroyer in Puente Antiguo? Come on, Jane."

He was in front of her now, sitting cross legged and trying to make eye contact with her.

"Wait," Jane said. "Is this you trying to be nice?"

"No, I just want to complete your training before I go reclaim Asgard." Loki said. "Trust me, you'll know when I'm being nice."

"Because the world will end?" Jane asked.

Loki laughed.

"Seriously though, Jane, you're hardly in an uncontrollable state. I'd already killed my birth father and betrayed my family and was going to Midgard to rule the mortals by this stage of my identity crisis." Loki said. "See how well you're faring?"

Jane looked at him with a sudden ferocity. His mention of Midgard triggered the memory of Erik's shattered mind and soul. He would never be the same person again. It was a direct result of what Loki now called his 'identity crisis' as if all the damage he'd inflicted was merely a blip on his road to maturity. His casual egoism enraged Jane.

"What?" Loki asked cautiously, taking in her expression's sudden change.

"You destroyed the lives of so many people I love." Jane said. Her voice was fierce.

Loki was taken aback. "Who?" he asked.

"Erik, Tony, Bruce, Pepper, Sif, Thor. Not to mention Odin." Jane spouted off even if she wasn't sure she loved Odin. "And let's not forget that you murdered Coulson, who wasn't my favorite person, but still, he didn't deserve it."

"Okay, but he did shoot me with an orka-powered weapon." Loki said. "And Banner hurt me far more than I hurt him."

"No, Loki. No!" Jane said. "You don't get it."

"You want to sit here and judge me just like everyone else, as if you are without any flaws yourself?" Loki spat.

"Who have I killed?" Jane whispered. "Who have I stolen life from?"

Loki said nothing.

"You think you're beyond reproach? That somehow everyone's disgust with you is misplaced?" Jane said. "If you truly believe that, then you are a bigger fool than I realized."

"I know I am reprehensible." Loki hissed. "But nothing I did was of malicious intent."

"Bullshit!" Jane yelled. "You snuck Jötnar into Asgard to steal the tesseract without even stopping to consider how many lives would be lost. _Could_ be lost. You murdered hundreds of people on my home planet and your Chitauri lackeys killed thousands. You are swimming in innocents' blood! Drowning in it!"

"Perhaps _you_ can hate me." Loki muttered.

"I do hate you." Jane said.

She felt so angry, but she knew that even now she did not hate Loki. She could not bring herself to do so despite how much she wanted to. It was a tiresome feeling, the knowledge from Nál that he and all his horrible attributes were set to be linked to her life for the foreseeable future. She resented the Norns for this. If she hated anything, it was fate.

Jane stood up and conjured her Jötunn blood from Loki. He turned Æsir again and Jane said, "Let's train."

* * *

><p>Deep within the palace of Asgard, Sif's mental state was faring worse than Jane's. Thor had begun to display the early signs of the illness shortly after they had rekindled their relationship, which were an overall fatigue coupled with a loss of taste. At the time of Odin's passing, Thor could still walk and stand as normal, but his complexion was the wan grey of the other sick Æsir.<p>

Tradition stipulated that after the funeral processions there was a minimum of two weeks mourning for the king except in times of war. At the pressing of the small council, which consisted of Heimdall, Sif, Fandral, Volstagg, and one of Odin's advisors named Reifnir, Thor assumed the throne quicker than tradition allowed. The council argued the spread of the illness could be likened to wartime since the Æsir were immune to all other diseases so there was nothing in place to combat its spread. No one wanted Asgard to be without a king in such perilous times.

The small council gathered now in Glaðsheimr, the Council Room within Iðavöllr Hall. It was Thor's first council meeting officially as king, but he had been leading them for awhile so it hardly felt different. Sif reflected that what she had thought was Odin grooming Thor for his ruling duties was actually Loki the entire time. She wondered if they would discuss Loki's trial at this meeting. She had already visited Loki in his cell to inform him he stood accused of regicide.

Thor's grey skin stood in stark contrast to splendor of Glaðsheimr's gold inlaid columns and furniture. He now carried the royal scepter everywhere, but only Sif knew it was because he could barely walk without assistance. She feared what was coming. She feared they would try to separate her from him so she would not also get sick. That she not be permitted by his bedside. She was determined not to allow this, even if she had to fight her friends.

"My king, the illness spreads exponentially. Our attempts to contain it within the palace seem to have failed." Fandral said from the far end of the council table. "It has spread throughout the city and some accounts are coming from as far away as Fornsigtuna."

The realm of Asgard was not very large, just double the size of the Fólkvangr province in Vanaheim, and it was easy for the council members to believe the plague had spread to its far reaches. Fornsigtuna lay beyond the Askjafjöll Mountains in the valley where the dwarves of the Niðavellir realm occasionally were permitted to dwell due to its proximity to the mountain quarries.

"We will send them aid." Thor said. He looked at Volstagg, who was from Fornsigtuna.

"That is a kind offer, my king, but there is no aid to send. We are short on supplies as it is." Volstagg said before adding tentatively, "We will have to reopen our ports."

"No." Thor said.

Everyone looked at him, waiting for a real explanation. They had closed their ports and portals to prevent the spread of the plague to other realms. It was a defensive tactic as well, to contain the news of Asgard's weakened state in order to avoid attack.

"What about opening them just to Vanaheim?" Fandral suggested. "Their harvest is nearly complete. We soon will require that food. Our stores begin to run low, my king."

"Based on what Sif told me upon her return from Vanaheim, the Vanir Court cannot be trusted." Thor said.

"I agree." Heimdall said. "When Sif and Jane visited their realm, I linked myself to Jane's mind. We no longer can rely on the Vanir."

Sif looked at Heimdall, masking her surprise. This meant he knew that she failed Jane and in turn Thor. She quickly realized it too meant that Jane had lied to her. _This plague began right after Jane left Asgard._ Sif thought. _What if she had something to do with it?_

"I have a suggestion." Heimdall began. His tone indicated that no one would approve of it, but he continued without prompt. "We could call on Midgard for help. They have no means to attack or exploit us, and Jane Foster is familiar with the Æsir genetic code. Perhaps she would have the building blocks to create a cure?"

"Absolutely not." Thor said harshly.

"Thor, they did have a similar plague on Midgard only seven hundred years ago." Fandral pointed out.

"I said no." Thor said. "I will not risk any mortals' lives for our own."

Fandral looked away and Heimdall stared at Thor. Volstagg ate the remaining piece of cheese from the lunch platter and Reifnir coughed lightly. Sif placed a hand on Thor's upper arm.

"Thor," she said softly. "If we do nothing, then we will all die."

Thor took Sif's hand and smiled at her reassuringly. His grey flesh was cold against her own, even colder than it had been that morning when she woke next to him in the royal chambers.

"I am not suggesting we do nothing." Thor said. "Look at us. Only one here has the illness. What if there is a way to prevent it? To cure it?"

"What do you mean?" Sif asked.

"I believe we should study each uninfected person and compare them to me." Thor said.

Sif knew this was something Jane would suggest. This was science.

"Who is qualified to do that? All the healers are sick or dead." Fandral said.

"Have you no sense of learning, my friends?" Thor said. "We will be the ones to do this."

No one responded.

Finally Thor stood, he used the table for support as he said with a kind enthusiasm to the council, "This is our chance to survive. We must pursue it."

Sif saw him sway before everyone else, standing immediately to try and break the force of his fall as he collapsed. The rest of the group quickly moved to help her. Sif heard Heimdall's voice begin to give orders. Somebody had to. Thor was still breathing and Sif accompanied Fandral and Volstagg as they carried him back to the royal chambers. She helped them tuck him into the massive bed.

"I will stay with him." Sif said. "Go and see what else Heimdall requires."

"My lady," Volstagg began. He looked from Thor's ashen, limp body to Sif's hard eyes, wet with tears. "Let us know what you need."

Sif nodded and waited for them to close the chamber door before she removed her breastplate and climbed into the bed next to Thor. She wrapped her arm over his body and stroked his chest.

"Wake up, my love. Wake up." she whispered. She meant Thor initially, but as she said the words a second time, she longed for her own self to wake from this terrible dream.

As she began to cry she felt Thor move beneath her. His fingers brushed her skin lightly and she shifted so she could see his face. His eyes were closed.

"Thor?" she said.

"It is cold." He murmured.

"Let me warm you." Sif said, moving more of her body onto his to give its warmth to him.

"Do not leave me." Thor said.

"No," Sif said. She kissed him lightly. "You have my word, I never will."

~.~.~

If Thor's final orders were being carried out, no one informed Sif. The days passed and Thor's energy continued to dwindle. She never left his side, just as she had promised him. She wanted to be there for the rare times he would speak, even if it was feverish mumbling for the most part. This was not an opinion others shared, notably Fandral and Volstagg, and Sif found herself defending her proximity to Thor more and more as time went on.

Fandral in particular seemed the most concerned and Sif in her solitude started to wonder if he was vying for the throne. She could imagine it. He was charismatic enough and he had been Odin's top advisor for several years. Sif stared at the shuttered balcony of the chamber and remembered how close he and Jane had been. How Fandral had always been fascinated with Loki, even when Loki proved himself the devil she always knew him to be. _What if the three of them planned this?_ Sif thought.

The pieces made more and more sense as she linked them in her mind. Jane had never cared for Thor, only for Fandral. They had met just a day after she met Thor, after all, and Fandral always referred to Jane as Thor's "lovely mortal." Then there was the familiarity Jane had shown with Loki the first they met. It made Sif wonder if it had actually been the first time. _Who had monitored the guards who oversaw visitation to Loki's cell?_ She mused. _Fandral._

Sif stood abruptly and began to pace the room. If Fandral meant to usurp the throne, then he would probably attempt to expedite Thor's death. _This is why he continues to try and separate me from Thor_, Sif realized. _He desires unrestricted access to him._ She needed to further fortify the chamber. She would permit no one entry unless accompanied by one of Thor's guards. She also needed someone to follow Fandral and report back his activities to her. _Whom can I trust though?_ She wondered. Options ran through her mind like a roster. Most of the names belonged to those already ill or with uncertain alliances. Finally she knew who it had to be: Abigæl, Jane's lady's maid. Thor had continued to employ her even after Jane departed Asgard, so she knew her loyalties lied with Thor. Plus Sif had always had a good relationship with the girl. Most importantly, though, she was still in good health.

Sif went to Thor's bedside again, brushing some strands of his faded gold hair away from his face as she said softly, "I will salvage your legacy, my love. No matter the cost."

She went outside the chamber to speak with the guards. She informed them to double security of the King's Quarters and not to permit anyone entry without alerting her first. Then she sent for Abigæl and went back into the bedroom. Thor remained asleep and Sif opened the door to the balcony to get some fresh air. As she rested her hands on the carved stone railing, the promise she made Gersemi came back to her. With Thor this ill, Sif did not know how she would be able to marry him before it was too late. She would not become queen and influence his decisions. She would have to find another way to help Gersemi ensure the demise of Freyr and Valfreyja's reign.

The city below her was still. Though it was midday, no one was outside. She knew they were bedridden like Thor. Surely more people were unaffected like she and most of the council seemed to be; Volstagg had informed her that Reifnir fell ill two days ago. But it was so quiet that she could hear the Ægir Sea's waves in the distance. Even the ravens were silent, falling ill just as easily as the Æsir. It seemed the plague made no distinction.

_Why am I still well?_ Sif wondered for the millionth time. The guilt of survival began to emerge and she suppressed it again, thinking instead of how she could have been blind to Fandral and Jane's plotting all this time.


	11. Chapter 10

**_Songs for this chapter: "Sacrilege" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs; "Stockholm Syndrome" by Muse_**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10<strong>

After what felt like ages of Loki beating Jane at Æsir and Vanir combat in their Alfheim meadow, both of them were spent. Loki conjured some passable dinner from the organic matter in the grass, soil, and nearby trees and they ate in silence.

Not needing as much to eat was a benefit of being Jötunn. Not being able to taste food any longer was both benefit and disadvantage. Tonight though, Jane felt it was a definite benefit. The indulgences of Asgard and Vanaheim seemed so trivial under her new taste buds, and Jane wondered how Loki managed growing up so surrounded by food. She didn't ask. Instead she lay down in the grass and conjured a blanket to wrap around herself. It was not cold, but the blanket gave her a sense of comfort, a lingering sentiment from her human life. She looked at her blanket and saw it was bright green. She laughed to herself and closed her eyes, too tired to change its color. The night before she'd thought she'd never be as tired as she was then, but after all the physical activity of the day, tonight proved her wrong. Soon she was asleep, not caring if Loki crept into her mind.

That night, she had another one of what she had come to call visions. It took place on Jötunheim. In it, Loki was naked in his Æsir form, chained to a rock underneath a great serpent. The set up was familiar to Jane from a painting that she had seen in the Tromsø Museum during her time working in Norway. The painting was part of the Ragnarök section in the mythology room, and depicted Loki tied down just like this. Of course, Loki in the painting was not the actual Loki as she saw him in the vision now. Ragnarök, if it was even a real thing, had not happened, or at least she did not think it had since nearly all the characters in it were still alive in her world, so she focused on the vision more intensely.

Besides Loki being himself in the vision, the most immediate difference she could see was that the serpent glowed in a burning way that suggested it was made impossibly of stars. Her mind connected that the serpent was the flesh form of the Jörmungandr constellation. In Earth's stories of Ragnarök the serpent who tortured Loki was not Jörmungandr. In fact, it was Thor who ultimately was killed by Jörmungandr in the mythology's folklore.

In the vision though, venom made of starlight dripped steadily from Jörmungandr's fangs into a bowl that a woman was holding. The woman was turned away from Jane and she could not see her face. In the myth that went with the painting, this woman was Sigyn, Loki's wife. The idea of Loki having a wife was ludicrous to Jane, but in the vision she could see that the bowl the woman was holding was about to overflow with venom. The woman too recognized this and hurried to dump the contents into a nearby abyss. While she was gone, the venom continued to drip. Jane watched in horror as it visibly burned the flesh of Loki's chest in a searing hiss that left his pale skin marred with chemical burns. The noise that followed deafened Jane in its howling and haunting roar. It sounded like a tornado just on the other side of a cellar door. Jane became unstable as the ground all around her started to tremble and shake. The rock she was standing on began to descend and she saw there was a giant crack in the rockbed between where she stood and where Loki was tied. She turned behind her to see that she was on the edge of the abyss. Jane leapt towards the now cliff face in order to save herself. Her arms caught the very edge and she fumbled to gain traction with her feet, the ground where she was standing a second before literally having fallen away. As she pulled herself up, she saw that the woman was running back to hold the bowl up over Loki again. Once she was back in her spot, the ground became still again and the noise of Loki's cries of anguish quieted to a small whimper.

"Why is this happening?" Jane called out from the cliff's edge.

The woman turned to face her and Jane saw that she was her own self.

"The wicked are punished in the end." The vision Jane replied. "This is the end of days. This is the start of Ragnarök."

Jane woke from the vision feeling unsettled and upset. She found the sky to be dark. The lack of stars assured she was on Alfheim, not Jötunheim, and she tried to calm her breathing. She still felt unsteady though. What she had seen felt all too real, as if she had been given a glimpse into the future. It reminded her of the Well of Mimir and she blinked a few times as the idea that she had somehow drank from the well and could now see the future spun around in her mind. She thought back to when she last had drunk anything. Nothing on Alfheim. Nothing while she was being examined by the Jötnar. Nál had given her Iðunn's apple.

Then she remembered. Nál had also given her water to wash down the apple. But that wasn't what it had been for at all. Nál had given her the gift of Mimir without even asking. _Why? _Jane wondered. She knew this meant all the other visions were real; that her fate was to become the queen of Asgard. There was only one way to stop that, and it meant she had to get back to Asgard in time to save Thor from the illness killing him, which she had foreseen the night before.

Jane sat up and found herself alone in the field. She stood and walked to the boat, finding Loki inside, staring at the vacant sky. He looked at her inquisitively. Jane climbed in and slid next to him.

"Loki," she said. It came out as a whisper even though she didn't intend it to.

"You're scared?" Loki asked.

"Another nightmare." She lied.

"Did I kill you in this one?"

"No." Jane barely managed to say, remembering the pain she saw him go through. That he would go through.

"What happened?" he asked softly.

Jane shook her head for a while. Finally she said, "Can I sleep next to you?"

"Yes, of course." Loki said.

"But against you? I just feel like I need to be touching someone." She said.

Loki said nothing and pulled her body against his. He stroked her hair and said, "Close your eyes. Think of Midgard. Think of home."

Jane thought of Jötunheim. She thought of Nál's smile of hope. She thought of Loki's lips lingering on hers when he had given her the human guise and expanded her mind for the inclusion of magic.

Loki's long fingers traced her jawline and the outer edge of her ear, causing their forms to change. She adjusted herself into his chest and wrapped her arm over his slender Jötunn torso. Eventually she fell asleep.

~.~.~

Jane woke to a whimpering sound beneath her and quickly surmised Loki was having a nightmare. She pushed her mind into his and found herself surrounded by Chitauri on a planet foreign to her. She could feel, quite overwhelmingly, Loki's raw fear.

"You have failed, fallen King of Asgard." The Chitauri leader said to Loki. "You thought we would stop looking for you. That Asgardian justice would be enough for Him."

"No," Loki said. "This is not my failure."

"Your words have no meaning without the tesseract!" the leader said. "You have imagined the pain we would inflict on you, I am certain. But all you imagined has been an illustrious sweetness compared to what you will experience now. Your suffering will be beyond measure. Worlds will quake in the tremors of your pain."

Loki said nothing, but Jane could feel his terror. She wanted to comfort him and assure him it was only a dream, but she knew that his final suffering would mimic this dream. It was beyond anyone's power to alter Ragnarök.

The dream continued with the Chitauri leader overseeing the chaining of Loki to a rock structure. A serpent that was different from Jörmungandr hovered in the background, waiting for its cue to attack.

"You thought your death would stop us!" the leader said. "But He never stops. Death is not a boundary He knows, our great leader."

"I didn't die for Him! I didn't die for any of you! Your venomous lies and claims of greatness. You are a wailing breed of reptiles. Vermin to be expunged. To torture me will gain you nothing!" Loki spat in his dream. Jane could tell his words were fabricated from fear and desperation, like when she had begged him for her life on Asgard.

"If you do not work to serve Him, then you have no purpose!" the Chitauri leader said.

Loki made no reply, but Jane could feel his thoughts. He felt regret and dismay. The events of Earth's Battle of New York played out in his mind on a high speed replay. He was skipping what Jane felt was important, what she needed to see. All the moments with Erik were blurred. Finally she saw Thor in real time, trying to speak sense into Loki. She could feel Loki's reaction to himself in the dream. He was so angry with himself for not killing Thor when he had the chance. The replay picked up speed again, landing on the destruction of the Chitauri fleet. Loki's mind had been freed in that moment. Jane realized that Tony's heroics had saved Loki from whoever 'He' was.

The dream resumed on the Chitauri planet with the Chitauri leader laughing at Loki's reverie. Loki didn't visibly react, but Jane felt his inward shudder.

"Let me show you suffering, Prince of Asgard." The Chitauri leader hissed.

The image of Jane filled the space in front of Loki, as if the Chitauri was projecting it onto an invisible screen. Jane watched as the image of herself took in the aether. Her image's body convulsed a few moments before going rigid.

"Look inside of her." The Chitauri urged. "The power you desired mingled with her blood. She should be dead. She will die in moments. Look inside of her, Prince!"

"She is strong." Loki said. "She will not perish. I have seen it."

The image of Jane looked directly at Loki and said in an emotionless tone, "You know nothing of my strength. You know nothing of my suffering. You think you understand pain. You think you know darkness. You tell yourself you know ultimate power. But you have harnessed nothing of those. You are nothing, Loki Laufeyson. You mean nothing and no one will be there to pity you in the end."

Jane wanted to shout that this was untrue; that she would be there. Instead she was overcome by the grief Loki felt. The sense of utter disappointment.

"Forgive me, Jane." She heard him whisper in the dream. She felt the sting of pain he felt as he severed the space behind his ear.

Jane watched in horror as bluish-black blood pooled around him. She could feel him dying in the dream and she realized this was her chance. She quickly looked at the fading images of the Chitauri, memorizing how they looked. Six fingers—four digits and two thumbs. Whitish taut skin. Face covered by a golden grate. No visible eyes. Shrouded by a hood. She could do this. She could get herself out of Alfheim tonight.

~.~.~

Loki could hear Jane calling for him. He had just killed himself to avoid the oncoming torture the Chitauri sought for him, but Jane's voice rang clear. After a long enough moment of not dying from the fatal wound, he realized he was dreaming.

He forced himself awake to find Jane screaming for him as she was dragged away in chains by a Chitauri guard. He conjured a bolt of energy from his lifeforce and threw it at her captor. The captor turned before the bolt hit him and blocked it with a wrist shield. Jane looked back at Loki, her eyes wide with terror.

_What have I brought her into?_ He thought angrily. The Chitauri had been clear that he could not hide from them. He had to save Jane though. This was not her fight. He moved to stand, but a thick hand pushed against his chest.

"Yes, your whore seems lovely." The hand's owner said. Loki saw it was the Chitauri leader. "She will serve Him well. Unlike you, Prince of Asgard. You have disappointed my master greatly. Then you betrayed Him with your mockery of death. He who commands so much will not be fooled by your petty tricks. You vex Him with your actions. You will pay an even greater price than promised before."

Loki grabbed the Chitauri leader by the throat, hoping to rip out its vocal chords, but the skin was slippery. Soon his fingers burned and he shrieked in pain.

"What is this poison?" Loki cried.

"A taste of what is to come." The leader said, moving in front of him. "You will beg for death, but you will not be granted such a luxury."

Loki was unsure what to do. He always had a plan, even if it wasn't fully formed, but nothing would come to him. The Chitauri leader was approaching him now, ready to bind him in chains. Loki transported himself to the meadow, but the Chitauri was so fast he caught up almost immediately.

"Where will you run?" he asked Loki. "You have nowhere left to go."

Chitauri emerged from every side, closing in on Loki.

"Let her go." Loki said.

"The whore? What is she worth?"

"Let her go." Loki commanded.

"Kill the whore!" the Chitauri leader yelled.

"No!" Loki yelled. He looked up to the boat to see the guard holding Jane captive stab her forcefully through the heart.

"No." Loki breathed. He felt like the force of mjölnir had struck him in the gut and he collapsed to the ground. The Chitauri leader approached him and he tried to find his lungs again. As the leader swiped his hand to grab Loki by the collar, Loki transported himself to Jane's side on the boat.

"You will pay for this." He snarled at the guard who killed her. The guard hissed at him and Loki focused his attention to Jane's body. He wondered if he could heal her still or if the wound was too fatal. He hovered his palms over the gaping hole where her heart should be, the green light emanating from him, but he could see the damage was too great.

Loki knew he could not return to Asgard without Jane alive. Everything was shattered now and the Chitauri had taken from him what he was rightfully owed. He would not go to his eternal suffering without a fight.

He looked back to Jane's limp body, the color fading from her skin. She could not come back as Jötunn after her heart had been forced from her body so violently. He went to push her hair away from her face, but at his touch her body shimmered gold and green then disappeared.

"What?" he uttered.

He looked to the guard and touched him as well. His body too shimmered away. Loki stood and turned to the meadow to find the Chitauri leader. Instead he saw Jane perched on the edge of the boat, taping her wrist as if she wore what Midgardians called a watch.

She looked over at him and said, "I think it's time to go back to Asgard, don't you?"

"That was…" Loki started.

Jane cocked her head.

"You are…" Loki tried again. This time he walked over to her. He picked her up and put her on the floor of the boat. His hands lingered on her waist and he moved his right hand over her ribcage to feel for the warmth of her heartbeat.

Jane pulled his hand from her upper torso and gave him a berating look.

"Sorry. I needed to make sure you still had a heart." He said.

"I am not you." Jane replied.

Loki smiled at this.

"Okay, it's you." He said. "And Jane?"

"Hm?"

"I'm impressed."

"Good. Now let's go." Jane said.

"Not yet." Loki said.

"A deal's a deal." Jane said. "Unless you're planning to betray me again like you did in Utgard?"

"No, I won't betray you again, Jane."

"I wish that were true." Jane said softly.

"We have to wait for Asgard to ask you back." Loki said. "It'll be any day now. Heimdall grows anxious. Whatever is happening there is spreading. Asgard never has plagues, but Midgard frequently does. Heimdall just needs to convince Thor that you can help."

Jane thought about this. Why wouldn't Heimdall just invite her himself if they were in such peril? Unless there was a command against it, Heimdall would call for her. He valued the realm above all else.

"Oh." She thought aloud.

"What?"

"No, it's just… Thor must be king now."

"Odin is only dead a day! The mourning period must end first. It's impossible."

"You're measuring time by the light, but there are no stars here. Light holds no measurement here." Jane said. "You're too intelligent for this, Loki."

Loki groaned and said, "It's so frustrating when you're right."

Jane grinned widely.

"Fine." Loki said. "But first we go to Midgard so you can be transported from there."

"What about you?"

"Oh, that's part of this plan. I'm sneaking into Asgard with you. Otherwise I'm on trial for murder."

"Sneaking in?"

Loki disappeared and then reappeared.

"Sneaking in." he said.

"Okay," Jane said. Her mind was racing now, working out a plan that would benefit only her while still being mostly in conjunction with his plan. "It might work." She added. Her comment was more to herself about her own plan.

"It will work." Loki said. "As long as you don't betray me."

"I'm not you." Jane said. To avoid suspicion she quickly added, "When do we start?"

Loki grinned and pushed past her to the boat's controls.

"You still need more fight training." He said as he flew them back towards the golden canyon.

"I doubt I could ever have enough." Jane said. "You're the only person I've ever fought."

"It's obvious." Loki said.

They were picking up speed now, heading for a curve in the canyon wall. The tiny opening of rock became visible to Jane and she looked around Alfheim once more before they slipped into the rock and accelerated through the portal to Midgard.

The desert's dry wind rushed over Jane's face and she covered her nose against the blast of sand. The wind was roaring and the visibility was abysmal. Loki's passageway had jettisoned them into some kind of sandstorm. She felt him pushing into her brain before she could block him.

"Sorry," he thought into her mind. "Shall we abandon the ship here and transport to your abode?"

"Sure." Jane thought back. "You know where it is or are we going together?"

"Why don't you take us? It'll be good practice." Loki thought.

Jane moved towards him and wrapped her arm around his waist.

"Please use both for your first try." Loki thought.

Jane sent an angry thought his way before fully embracing him. She looked to the swirling storm around them, the boat still mid-flight. The visual of atoms made the storm appear even more chaotic.

"Can you do this?" Loki thought in her head.

"Shut up! I'm focusing." She thought back.

"I like my form as it is, you know."

Jane could see a passage from the storm now through the dark matter.

"Your vanity is atrocious." She thought and let her magic flow through both of them. Their atoms moved through the dark matter and out of the sandstorm. From this vantage point Jane could see they were above an enormous desert, but she could not tell which one. The sun was blocked out by a stratus cloud, which seemed odd for the desert and unfortunately rendered it useless for telling direction. She knew the only way to figure out where on Earth they were would be to keep moving and looking for landmarks.

"I don't know Midgard well enough." Loki thought to her. "Reassemble our dropar and we'll figure it out on land."

Jane ignored him and set a course, looking for visuals on the ground. Soon the Hoover Dam came into view. They were going southeast. She corrected them northeast and went full speed. In this form she could not unlink herself from Loki. In fact, it was as if they were one entity hurtling through space. Moments later they materialized on her building's roof in London. Loki immediately went invisible, but stayed linked inside Jane's mind.

"I can't guide you if I don't know where you are." She thought to him.

Loki showed himself and thought back, "Fair enough, but only you can see me through our mindlink. We need to get you inside, cleaned up, and integrated back into life. Then you will have to call Heimdall."

"You're concealing me from him." Jane pointed out.

"Yes, I know. Once you step in for your illusion, I'll drop the concealment. So don't do anything stupid."

"Don't you trust me?" Jane grinned.

Loki wrinkled his nose and Jane took that as a reluctant yes. She made the leap to her balcony and Loki followed. Jane looked out at the familiar view of London for a moment. The rain seemed darker than she remembered, but she thought it might just be her Jötunn eyesight.

"Does the rain look different to you?" she thought to Loki.

"Not especially, but I see a lot of alien rain, so who can know?" Loki thought back.

Jane frowned, but shrugged it off, turning towards her locked apartment. Using magic she unlocked the balcony door and went inside. Everything was in place and her illusion was sitting on the couch engrossed in a journal.

"What is she doing?" she thought to Loki.

"Being clever."

"Can she see us?"

"She is me." Loki thought. "Now go find those clothes in your—"

He stopped once he realized Jane had already conjured matching clothing onto herself. Her skin was free of cuts, bruises and different colored dried blood, and she looked at him to indicate she was ready.

"Well that was quick." Loki smiled.

"We are lacking on time." Jane thought. She kept her mind clear of any thoughts of saving Thor. Loki had to think they were going back entirely for him or else he would sabotage her plan.

"Take the journal and get ready to sit in her place." Loki said, his hand poised to remove the illusion.

Jane hovered over the illusion of herself waiting for Loki's signal.

"Now!" he thought.

Jane grabbed the journal and slid into the illusion, which Loki made disappear at her touch. She felt a weight lifted from her and realized that her concealment was over. She continued to keep her mind clear, despite her excitement, and focused on the journal her illusion had been reading. It was full of equations she didn't know, that she hadn't written, even though they were in her handwriting. After flipping through a few pages she realized it was all equations to make space-time travel possible through the harnessing of dark energy. There was no evidence to support the theory, other than the Bifröst, which might not count as evidence on Earth. It was Loki's handiwork.

As she turned the page, she noticed sketches of possibilities for how to engineer a device that would permit such travel. She flipped through quickly, realizing the sketches took up dozens of pages, focusing on a single design more narrowly as the journal went on. Across the top of the last page of sketches, Tony Stark's personal email address was written in gorgeous calligraphy, but then scratched out quite forcefully, as if Loki desperately meant to conceal the lapse into his own handwriting.

"You could write that gracefully, too. I had training." Loki thought to Jane, reading her mind's reflections on her own ugly handwriting. Truthfully he had enjoyed writing in her squat little scribble. It moved quickly and focused entirely on the content instead of the presentation. It did not try to put on airs and its form reminded him a little bit of the runic writing of the Jötnar. Theirs had always been his favorite alphabet to draw.

"What did you do?" Jane thought demandingly to Loki, referencing Tony's email address.

"Nothing," Loki thought back in a playfully guilty tone.

"Did you email these to Tony?" Jane thought.

"Technically, no." Loki thought.

Jane let out a sigh and tried not to roll her eyes. Heimdall could be watching her and she needed to appear to be alone. She got off the couch, tucked the journal into her jeans' back pocket, and went to search for her cell phone.

"On the kitchen counter." Loki thought to her.

She snatched the phone off the counter and noticed the wall calendar was turned to November.

"That can't be right." Jane said softly out loud. She thought to Loki, "Did you change my calendar month?"

"Of course. You're anal about your calendar, how would it be believable if I hadn't?" he thought back.

Jane felt herself starting to blush and quickly concealed it using magic. Loki laughed, able to read her thoughts of embarrassment at being judged accurately as anal. Jane cleared her throat and unlocked her phone.

'13:08, Wednesday, 26 November' the front screen read. She had moved to Asgard on September 7th. _Oh my god._ Jane thought to herself. _I've been gone more than 2 months?!_

"_We_ have been gone." Loki corrected her through thought. "We were on Jötunheim for a month. So, we must have been on Alfheim for about a month as well."

"This is insane." Jane thought to him. "It felt like a few days on Alfheim."

"Hours have no measure when engrossed in pleasure." Loki thought with a grin. When Jane gave him a confused thought back he replied, "You don't have this saying on Midgard?"

"Sort of. It goes 'Time flies when you're having fun.'" She thought. "Though if our time on Alfheim is what you call 'fun' then we have bigger issues."

"You enjoyed yourself, Jane. Your thoughts can't lie to me." Loki teased. Part of him itched to take Jane back to Alfheim and stay there with her forever. This was of course impractical, but made him glad his new plan did not involve harming Jane like his previous plan had.

"I'm ignoring you now." Jane thought back to Loki.

She looked at her phone and noticed the scores of missed texts. The top one was from Erik and it read, "I'm coming by after lunch to make sure you're alive." She checked the time and date of the text and saw it was from today and only an hour ago. _Shit._ She thought. _We need to go now. Erik's coming._

The doorbell rang.

"Answer it." Loki thought. "It will seem weird to Heimdall if you try to leave now with Selvig on your doorstep."

Jane checked the peephole first, then unlocked the door and gave Erik a smile.

"Hey!" she said. "I got your text. I'm alive, see."

"Can I come in?" Erik asked. His tone sounded serious and he looked her over as if checking to see if she was hurt.

"Sure, of course. Sorry." Jane stammered. She moved out of the doorframe so he could enter the apartment. Erik took off his coat and hung it on her overloaded coat rack.

"Um, is everything okay?" Jane asked. She tried to remember how to be human. "Do you want anything to drink? Coffee?"

"Coffee would be nice." Erik nodded.

Jane smiled and went to the kitchen. It was not unused. Loki's attention to detail was impressive. Jane almost laughed imagining him doing dishes as her illusion. While Thor had always been helpful and cleaned up while visiting, it was impossible to think of Loki in his Asgard garb resisting the use of magic in the face of dirty dishes.

Loki wasn't sharing his thoughts with her and Jane turned to find him observing Erik from a dark corner by her television. He looked concerned, so Jane turned to Erik. He was sniffing around Jane's apartment, as if searching for something specific. She pushed the journal deeper into her back pocket and opened her cabinet with the coffee. She filled the coffeemaker and pressed the BREW button.

"So, what's really going on?" Jane asked Erik, walking back to the living area.

"Director Hill's worried about you." He said. He was using his paternal voice now.

"Why?" Jane asked. She immediately thought to Loki, "What did you do?"

"Nothing extravagant," He thought back. "Promise."

"You've been avoiding her calls since getting back from Asgard." Erik said.

"Thor and I broke up. Why should I have to field calls from Hill?" Jane said.

"What? You didn't tell me." Erik said.

"Yeah, I just...thought it would be obvious since I came back." Jane said. She realized she needed to act more upset. "It just wasn't what I expected, being there with him."

"What changed?" Erik asked. "You were so happy with him before. I really thought..." Erik trailed off.

"Yes, Jane, what changed? I'm dying to know." Loki thought grinning from the corner.

"Thor's in love with Sif." Jane said plainly. "You saw when they came here for Ian's party."

"Jane, why would you go to Asgard then?" Erik asked, moving to the kitchen to tend to the bubbling coffeemaker.

"I...didn't want to believe it." Jane said.

"Liar," Loki thought. He had seen in her mind by now what her true intentions had been in moving to Asgard. She had gone to collect information and technology to bring back to Midgard and share with Tony and that mongrel Banner. The way she idolized Banner in her head made Loki hate the beast even more. Still, he admired the way Jane had used Thor. By sending Tony the space-time travel equations and sketches while he was Jane's illusion, Loki at least had lived out some of her true goals for her. Plus it enabled him to know Tony in a different way, which had been a lot of fun. He quite enjoyed Tony, as it turned out.

"Hm," Erik said back to Jane from the kitchen.

"Is that really why Hill's concerned?" Jane asked. Something was going on here. Erik was acting weirdly distant. She wondered again what Loki had been doing as her illusion for the last two months, but he gave her no indication now.

Erik prepared their coffees, frowning at the spoiled milk in the fridge and just serving them with a little sugar. He walked over to Jane, who had sat down on the couch, and placed a mug in front of her.

"No," Erik said. "She wants you to come in."

Jane could practically feel Loki leaning over her shoulder in curiosity even though she could see him seven feet in front of her.

"What's been happening?" Jane asked Erik.

"It's all need-to-know. I can't brief you until you come in." Erik said and looked out the window.

"You've been there too long." Jane smiled teasingly.

"Maybe so," he laughed lightly.

"Okay, but is it world threatening or just a project?" Jane asked. "Because there's some stuff going on in Asgard they need me back for."

"Jane, you can't go back there." Erik said.

"Says who?"

"Hill won't allow it. The lines to space are closed." Erik was serious. "There's been... you just can't leave."

"Erik, if you can't tell me what's going on, then I have no reason to stay. But Asgard does have a reason for me to go. Thor is dying and they think I can help."

"Were you even going to say goodbye?" Erik said.

"I'm coming back." Jane said. She wasn't sure that was true though.

She put down her mug, having drank none of it, and stood, walking towards the balcony.

"Jane, I can't let you go." Erik said. "I'm under orders to bring you in to headquarters. Our flight leaves in an hour."

"Well, you can't detain me. If Hill really wanted to bring me in, she would have sent someone stronger than you." Jane said. She opened the balcony door and walked outside, Loki following directly behind her. She looked to the sky and called out, "Heimdall, I'm ready."

"Jane, wait," Erik said, following her outside. He approached her slowly, putting his hands on her shoulders. Jane knew Heimdall must be watching because he did not send the Bifröst down.

"You don't need to save him you know. What more can you do for Thor that Asgard cannot?" Erik said.

"Erik," she began. She looked away from him and saw Loki had moved to the railing to look out over London. Her eyes stayed on Loki as she said, "I wish you were right. I wish that I couldn't help him. But it seems my fate lies beyond the stars."

Loki looked over at these words and held her gaze. She had cleared her mind and he could not tell if she was talking about him.

"Just be safe, Jane." Erik said. "Our world is darker when you're not here."

Jane looked back to Erik and smiled, "I will be safe. My time away changed how I approach danger."

"That's what I'm afraid of, Jane." Erik said. "You're not immortal."

"Neither is Thor." Jane said flatly.

Erik let out a sigh and gave Jane a long hug.

"I'll try to send word from Asgard." Jane said. "I nearly finished an idea for the communications portal before I left last time."

"Intergalactic email?" Erik mused.

"Inter-realm," Jane corrected him.

Loki smiled at this and then cleared his throat. It was time to go.

"Okay," Jane said. She was really speaking to both men at that point. Loki conjured on a pair of gloves so he would not turn her Jötunn during the journey and Jane moved away from Erik a safe distance.

"Goodbye, Erik." Jane said. She looked towards the sky again and said, "Heimdall, now I'm ready."

Loki wrapped his arms around her tightly and she felt the now familiar tug of dark energy swarming around them as Heimdall sent the Bifröst down. As their bodies raced through space-time, Jane focused on Erik in order to keep her mind clean.

The trip seemed to take longer than she remembered, but she put it down to her nerves. Finally her feet made contact with the Observatory floor and she yelled out quite clearly for Heimdall, "Loki is with me!"

"Traitor!" Loki cried out to Jane as Heimdall's arm seized his body. Heimdall placed a muzzle over Loki's mouth to bind his magic and Jane felt the removal of his mind from hers as it happened. She moved away from them out of Loki's reach, rubbing her head to ease the pain. When the pain subsided, she conjured a pair of Æsir handcuffs and tossed them to Heimdall who effortlessly put them around Loki's wrists.

"Where is Thor?" Jane asked Heimdall.

"In the king's chambers." Heimdall said. When he emphasized the word 'king', Loki's eyes narrowed.

Jane gave Heimdall a nod and fixed a cool stare on Loki's angry eyes.

"First things first, Loki," she said to him. "We are not friends. At no point should you ever think I remotely care for you."

"What shall I do with him?" Heimdall asked Jane.

"You cannot kill him, unfortunately." Jane said to Heimdall. She looked Loki in the eyes again and added, "Our fates are linked for now."

Loki stared back at her with hollow eyes and she turned to the Rainbow Bridge and began to run towards Asgard.


	12. Chapter 11

**_Songs for this chapter:_** **_"Implosions" by Agent Fresco; "_****_Run Boy Run" by Woodkid_**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11<strong>

"Sif, there is a fresh hunt in from the valley. Come and eat something." Fandral said, quietly entering the king's chambers escorted by one of Thor's remaining healthy guards.

"I am not hungry." Sif said.

"Sif, you are pale. You must eat." Fandral said. His voice was harder this time.

"Are you my king, Fandral?" Sif yelled at him.

"No, my lady." Fandral said quietly. This behavior had become commonplace for Sif since Thor fell ill. His tone softened as he added, "I only worry for our king, of course. He needs you at your full strength."

"Our king needs me by his side." Sif said coolly. "You may go, Fandral."

Fandral closed his eyes, sighing as he left the room. Volstagg waited for him outside in the main hall of the Kings Quarters. Sif only permitted one person inside at a time.

"Any luck?" Volstagg asked.

Fandral shook his head. He looked at the guard who escorted him and said, "See that Lady Sif is brought something to eat."

The guard nodded at him and Fandral took Volstagg by the elbow, pulling him swiftly away from the ears of the guards.

Once they were a safe distance away Fandral spoke, "She is worse than before. I fear her sanity is slipping away in her grief."

"What can we do? Force her away from him?" Volstagg asked.

"I am beginning to feel that may be the only option. She will not leave him of her own accord." Fandral said.

"There is no where to put her though." Volstagg said. "She will return to him if unrestrained and all the extra prison cells are full with those in quarantine."

Fandral sighed.

"The problem will likely work itself out." He said quietly after a long moment. "No one who has contact with the ill remains uninfected for long."

"Did she show any signs?" Volstagg inquired.

"None that I saw."

One of Heimdall's guards approached them in a full run. All of Heimdall's guards were linked to his mind so they could relay his observations and requests throughout the palace with immediacy. It was the most difficult position to secure in Asgard.

The guard, who showed signs of the illness in his skin, said through his panting, "My lords, Heimdall needs your assistance at the Observatory."

"What has happened?" Volstagg asked.

"Jane has returned. She did not come alone." The guard said, out of breath. "You will require the magic neutralization chains."

"Why?" Fandral asked. "Who is with her?"

"Loki."

Fandral and Volstagg shared a shocked look.

"Do not tell anyone this news." Fandral said to the guard in a low voice. He looked around before adding even more quietly, "Especially not Lady Sif."

The guard nodded and said, "Heimdall urges you to hurry."

As Fandral and Volstagg made haste from the King's Quarters, Abigæl slipped silently from the dark corner she was hiding in and made her way to the king's chamber. The guards permitted her without question or accompaniment. She had been spying on Fandral for weeks and they all understood.

"Lady Sif," Abigæl said as she entered the king's bedroom chamber. "There is news to report. Heimdall has sent for Fandral and Volstagg. My lady, Jane Foster has returned to Asgard and she brought Loki with her."

Sif spun to face Abigæl.

"Loki is imprisoned here already." Sif said.

"I fear that may have been another trick, my lady." Abigæl said. "They both seemed convinced it was him."

"What is their plan?" Sif asked.

"They will imprison him immediately, my lady. They are bringing the magic neutralization chains with them."

"And what of Jane?"

"They did not say."

"She will come here." Sif said quietly, almost to herself. She stood and looked down at Thor. Her expression hardened. "I will be ready for her."

~.~.~

Midway down the Rainbow Bridge, Jane crossed paths with Fandral and Volstagg who were on horseback.

"Take Glenr, my lady." Fandral said, motioning to her saddled horse that raced behind them.

"Thanks!" Jane said. She slowed her run and climbed easily onto the back of her white steed. She noticed neither Fandral nor Volstagg looked like the dying people in her vision, so that was a relief.

"Things are very different here now." Volstagg said to her. "You are unsafe here."

"Yes, I know about the sickness." Jane said. She didn't explain how she knew and they didn't appear confused by this. _They must assume Heimdall told me._ She thought.

"Heed caution, Jane." Fandral said. He rode his horse closer to hers and added in a low, serious tone, "Sif is not herself. She is mentally unwell. Her behavior is unpredictable and unstable."

Jane nodded. She was not worried about Sif. She knew that she was more powerful than her now that she had magic.

"You can't kill Loki. Our fates are linked." Jane told them.

Fandral and Volstagg gave her a nod of understanding and then gave a yell to their horses to run and continued on their way to the Observatory.

Jane clicked her tongue at her horse. Glenr took off in a full gallop towards Asgard and her Jötunn agility made the ride easy. As she neared the palace gates, she realized she was still in Human clothing. She quickly conjured the atoms of her fabric and rearranged them into Æsir appropriate dress, relocating her journal and the vial of orka from Nál to concealed pockets within the garb. She looked down to briefly inspect her work and groaned. Her dress was a deep grey with several accents of bright green. She rolled her eyes and kept riding.

Inside the palace an eerie quiet filled the length of its central Iðavöllr Hall. Glenr's hooves echoed loudly on the limestone floor. No one was around to stop her entry as she turned Glenr down the hall that led to the King's Quarters. Finally, only several doors from the king's bedroom itself did someone bring her horse to a halt. Jane saw it was Sif.

Jane dismounted and greeted her. "How is he?" she asked.

"Unwell," Sif said. She looked pale and it was clear she had been crying throughout the last several days.

"May I see him?" Jane asked, starting to walk forward before Sif replied.

Sif pushed her sword blade to Jane's throat and asked, "Where were you?"

"Midgard," Jane replied, hoping Sif's sword would not draw blood. She worried about her self control still and she didn't want to hurt Sif. "I came as soon as I could. Please, Sif, I just want to see him."

"This began right after you left." Sif hissed. "How do I not know that you do not bring more folly from your mortal lands?"

"Sif," Jane looked at her with begging eyes.

"Take her to the prisons." Sif commanded.

"Sif, please!" Jane cried.

She had a choice to make now. She could reveal her magic and see Thor or go to the dungeons with her secret still intact. Fandral and Volstagg were glad to see her, so perhaps it was only Sif's emotions causing this reaction to her return. Fandral did warn her about Sif's erratic behavior. _Fandral will release me from prison, right?_ She thought. She wasn't certain. But she knew she had to see Thor for herself if she had any chance of knowing how to save him and avoid her fate of ruling Asgard. She created an illusion to match her exact appearance in that moment and then transported herself into the king's bedroom.

Thor lay helpless on the bed, his skin sallow and grey. Even though she had foreseen this, she'd never imagined him truly sick and the image was haunting. She hurried to his side and reached to hold his hand. She realized he looked grey because his veins were black.

"Thor," she said softly. "It's me. It's Jane."

His eyes fluttered slightly and he said in a hoarse whisper, "You should not have come."

"I had to come." Jane said. "I am going to save you, Thor. All of you."

Thor opened his eyes, their blue color cloudy and the whites speckled with black veins.

"How?" he asked.

"She's inside the chamber!" Sif's voice called from the hall.

"I'm going to find a cure." Jane said. She smiled at Thor. "I will find it or create it. I'm not going to let you die. It's not an option."

"What has happened to you, Jane?" Thor asked. "Why do you wear that color green?"

"Seize her! She uses magic!" Sif cried as she burst into the room with all Thor's remaining guards.

"Jane?" Thor's eyes questioned her. "What have you done?"

The guards took Jane into magic neutralization chains and pulled her from Thor's side.

"I will save you, Thor." She said to his surprised face. "I promise."

~.~.~

"So this was your brilliant plan?" Loki said from his corner cell as the guards and Sif marched Jane past it. "Bravo, Jane."

Jane didn't look at him. They led her to the cell next to his, but it was full of Æsir with the same grey skin that plagued Thor. A prison guard approached them and addressed Sif.

"My lady, all the cells are occupied by the sick. This woman looks well." He said.

"Put her in with Loki then." Sif said. Her eyes flickered darkly to Jane's before she added, "They can flyte day and night using their treacherous magic."

"Oh, great, she knows." They could all hear Loki say with a groan from his cell.

The guards pulled Jane back to the front of Loki's cell and one turned off the Æsir magic that held the walls intact. The others stood guard over Loki as Sif undid Jane's chains and shoved her inside. She could feel the difference in Jane's body density. She realized Jane was no longer human. _Was this always their plan? _She wondered. _To turn Jane __Æ__sir for Fandral, or...?_ Sif could not even finish the thought it was so distasteful. Jane might be a talented liar, but surely even she would not take interest in Loki.

The Æsir magic went back into effect sealing the cell and Sif sneered at the pair of them, pushing her new concerns away long enough to say with confidence, "When this is over, you will both rot in here forgotten while Thor rules Asgard."

"Look around, Sif," Loki said. "This is more a quarantine ward than a dungeon. Who will be left for Thor to rule?"

"Thor is dying." Jane said softly to Sif. "Please, let me help."

"A Midgardian wench has no means to help a god." Sif said and turned on her heel.

"Ouch," Loki said sucking in air as they watched Sif leave them. "What is it they say on Midgard? Oh yes! She told you, Jane."

Jane sucker punched Loki and he flew across the cell, the Æsir glass shimmering gold as he slammed into it. Jane conjured a wall between them, pleased to find that she could still do magic within the cell itself. She sat in the far corner of the cell wishing she were in Jötunn form so she wouldn't have to cry. Loki's impish laughter peeled through her illusion wall, but he stayed on the other side of it giving her privacy.

~.~.~

After Sif locked Jane in Loki's cell, she did not immediately leave the prisons. Instead she decided to pay Lorelei a visit. She wanted answers.

"Leave me." Sif commanded the guards. She could not have Lorelei's sorceress power over men risk her own safety.

Once she was alone in the isolation chamber, Sif undid the cell's magic and entered it. Lorelei blinked a few times, adjusting to the light that came on with a visitor's presence. Sif removed the silencer from her mouth and stepped back outside the cell, quickly resealing it.

Lorelei coughed and cleared her throat. It had been months since she had use of her voice. Finally she smiled at Sif and said, "You look wretched, Lady Sif. Did Thor finally marry that mortal?"

"I have come to speak about your involvement with Loki." Sif said, ignoring Lorelei's words completely.

Lorelei frowned and finally said, "I really do not see why. That was ages ago. Centuries. Before Amora was banished. Before you and Thor were even together."

"I do not mean your sexual involvement. I mean your recent act as his accomplice to regicide." Sif said.

"Regicide, really? Sounds fascinating, especially since Loki died last year." Lorelei's eyes flashed. "But I have not a clue of what you speak."

"We shall try this a different way." Sif said. Her voice was calm, unnerved, but inside her fury was beginning to climb to the surface. "Can you do a concealment spell?"

"Yes, of course. That's basic magic."

"Could you conceal a person?" Sif asked.

"Depends," Lorelei said. "Is this person Odin?"

Sif said nothing.

"I will take your silence as confirmation." Lorelei said. "The answer would be no. I could not conceal Odin unless he requested me to do so and lowered his charm shields. The King of Asgard is well protected against magic. His sons on the other hand..."

"So you admit to working with Loki then?" Sif said.

Lorelei laughed.

Sif glowered at her. "You dare mock me, Lorelei?"

Lorelei laughed harder and leaned towards the glass, "You are such a blundering fool that you are hardly even worth my mockery, Lady Sif."

"You will give me answers!" Sif screamed at her.

Lorelei pursed her full lips into a smirk and said nothing. Sif seethed, her breathing coming out in ragged bursts of rage. She decided to leave before she lost further control of the situation. Fixing a threatening stare on Lorelei she said, "You will admit to your manifold of crimes, even if I have to force you to do so."

Sif turned around sharply and left the isolation cell, the lights extinguishing once she was gone.

* * *

><p>Hours later, after the sun went down and the dungeons were in the darkness of the moonlight, Loki passed through the illusion wall. He had already forgiven her for betraying him to Heimdall, though he was undecided whether or not to express his sentiment to Jane. He did not yet see the benefit in doing so, plus he felt a bit awestruck at her actions still. <em>She is limitless.<em> He reminded himself as he sat next to Jane.

"Is Thor really dying?" he asked her almost inaudibly.

Jane nodded. Her hours spent here so far proved to her that there was no sound privacy in the dungeons.

"You've been crying." Loki said.

Jane looked away. She had cried since Sif left them. It felt hopeless. Not only would Thor die likely within days, she had no means to help him from here. Not to mention Sif appeared to be seeking vengeance on her finally. On top of that, she was locked up with a psychopath whom she'd betrayed earlier that day. He would likely try to murder her tonight so none of this would matter anyway. She'd be just another name in his book of bloodshed.

"You should not be so concerned." Loki said. "I do not mean to rule a vacant Asgard. We will stop this plague, Jane."

She looked at him and asked, "How?"

"Two geniuses who can do magic locked up together in a glass house for five thousand years give or take?" he smiled. "We will think of something."

"You would kill in my sleep." Jane said.

Loki smiled and cupped Jane's chin with his hand. He let their eyes glow red a moment before he said, "Our fates are linked, Jane. I would no sooner kill myself."

Jane took Loki's hand and removed it from her chin.

"I wish you hadn't damaged so many people I love." She said.

Loki looked away, his eyes fading back to green.

"I wish that, too." He said into the darkness.

They sat there in silence until eventually falling asleep some time later.

~.~.~

When Jane awoke, she found herself on the hard floor, slunk against the wall. A heavy arm draped over her ribs and a messy mass of sable hair was in her immediate eyesight. She closed her eyes to push her senses forward and realized this was an illusion. She sat up, dissolving the sleeping illusion of Loki, and turned to find the real Loki had put their fake wall back up. He'd created a small opening in this one and she stood to peer through it. Loki was perched by the cell glass, his legs stretched in front of him, reading a book.

"Where did you get that?" Jane asked, walking through the wall, which shimmered away at her touch.

"Good morning." Loki replied. "Sleep well?"

His smirk reached his eyes as he looked up from the book. Jane realized he looked immaculate and that she likely looked like a mess. She wondered how long it would take her to remember her magic for random things like personal hygiene. She conjured the dirt, dried sweat, and oil from her body and hair and rearranged the atoms of her dress into new clothing, focusing hard this time to avoid more green.

"Red?" Loki frowned at her new fabric choice. "How overdramatic."

"The book, Loki?" Jane asked. Her neck was stiff and she wondered what magic would help that. Really just a bed would do the trick, but who was going to give them a bed?

"Leftover from Frigga. This is my old cell." He explained. "There are more over there."

Jane followed his gaze to a stack of tattered books. But that wasn't the only thing in the cell. A plush sitting chair and matching ottoman, a goblet and platter on a small circular table, and a daybed filled the space. He had concealed them from her the day before.

"You let me sleep on the floor when you knew we had a bed?"

"It's not a very big bed." Loki said. "Besides, you're common and I am royalty. I assumed you would have given it to me anyway."

Jane opened her mouth to respond but remembered the lack of sound barriers and thought better of it. If Loki wanted to punish her for turning him in, so be it. She strode to the books and began to examine the titles.

"Only two will be of use." Loki said over his shoulder. "Reading one of them now. You should start on the other—_Darkness of the Realms_ it's entitled."

Jane found it separated from the stack and took it with her to the sitting chair.

"What is yours about?" she asked.

"It's written in Vanir. It's their account of history. They had a plague once, though it was disguised as a war with the Jötnar so Asgard would not think them weak and invade."

"You can read Vanir?" Jane asked. "Their alphabet is impossible for me."

"Frigga was Vanir. She taught me her mother tongue." He said. "But like I told you before as Odin, Vanir is the hardest language of the realms to learn. Most Æsir give up. You speak it beautifully, for what it's worth."

"Not much right now it seems, but thanks." Jane muttered. "So have you found anything yet?"

"I have," Loki frowned. "But it's not the same symptoms we're seeing here. If you can't find anything in that one, we'll have to visit the library."

Jane looked at him confused. "What? Are they giving library passes to prisoners now?"

Loki laughed.

"Jane, that's adorable." He said and then pointed to his temple, "No, we'll have to go through here."

"How do we take the books though? We won't physically be there."

"I like to call it a Loki Transcode since I invented it." He said. "You store the molecular components of the book in your mind and then transfer them into the physical books we have already here. The bigger the borrow, the bigger book we need as a base."

"That's...amazing!" Jane exclaimed.

"I know." Loki smiled.

"But, wait, how do we get there at all? The cells stop any form of magic from leaving their walls, right? How would we exit the cell?" Jane asked, seeing the flaw in the plan.

Loki put a finger over his lips as they pursed into a smirk. He then said out loud, "Yes, all the cells prevent any form of magic from leaving them. It is the securest prison in all the Nine Realms."

Jane pushed her mind into his and thought, "So how do we do it?"

"Hang on," Loki thought back. "Putting up a screen so people don't notice we stopped talking."

He flicked his wrist and an illusion of Jane and Loki standing in a replication of their cell filled the space by the glass. They were having a fairly civilized conversation about prisons throughout the galaxies. Illusion Jane was pointing out the humanitarian flaws of the Kyln, the infamous prison located in the Andromeda galaxy, and illusion Loki was countering with recognition of its communal aspects, which were notably lacking within the Æsir prison. Both points of view were originating from the real Loki's brain of course and the real Jane found herself drawn into the discussion based on both its content and the absurdity of it. She wondered if Loki used to have debates in here between himself and an illusion of someone else to combat loneliness.

"Frigga oversaw the final redesign of this particular cell when I was initially sentenced to life in prison." Loki thought to Jane in their real forms while he continued to run the illusion. "There is an opening here by my head. It's too small for the ungifted eye to see, but large enough to permit me—us—to project an illusion within a limited field. The field essentially extends to the library, but she could not control the radius, so it's that distance in all directions."

"So you could project an illusion to her while you were in here?" Jane thought.

"Technically yes, if she was close enough, but magic is permitted inward to the cells from anywhere, so she always projected to me." Loki thought back.

A memory of Loki's began to form in his mind. In it Jane could hear his voice saying ruefully, 'You're not,' but she could not see who he was speaking to. He cut off the memory abruptly and Jane could feel his emotions becoming overwhelmed with grief.

"So, where exactly is the opening?" she thought quickly to distract him.

"Close your eyes and focus on the Æsir magic's energy field along the cell glass next to me." Loki thought and Jane closed her eyes.

She felt his emotional relief at her interruption even though it was subtle, almost subconscious. Jane realized she was beginning to be able to read more of who Loki was than just what was revealed in his most forthcoming thoughts. She had to assume he already developed this skillset and therefore know quite a bit about her, perhaps even some things that she did not even acknowledge about herself.

His words about how he and Frigga had been unable to keep secrets from each other ran through her mind and she wondered if he knew that she had the gift of Mimir. She purposefully had been keeping it from him even before she figured out exactly what it was. He would have had to dig deep, and she didn't think that she had made her mind vulnerable to him long enough for that to occur.

"Do you see the gap?" Loki thought after a moment.

Jane realized she should focus and with her eyes still closed she observed the space on the glass near his head. There was a miniscule blank spot in the shimmering gold of the force field just next to his eye in her line of sight. It looked black from this vantage, but she knew it was merely see-through.

"Yes," she thought. "It's very small."

"Exactly," Loki thought. "So, there you have it. The passageway to the library. See Jane, you can get everything you want in one place...a library, a privacy screen, a bed, and me."

Loki's thoughts became exaggeratedly sexual and Jane pulled herself from his mind with an eyeroll. As he held his head in the pain of her removal he let out a long, maniacal laugh.

"And I hate you." Jane said simply, rubbing her eyes to ease the pain of the mindlink.

Loki dropped the illusion screen and continued to laugh while Jane tried to push his forced thoughts of kissing her against the stacks in one of the darker spots of the library out of her head. Most of his thoughts had not been of just kissing her, but that was the particular part she could not shake. The way he imagined how her lips would feel under his touch lingered in her mind. All his crass thoughts had been tainted with false emotion except for this particular one, as if he'd not been able to mask his unbridled excitement because it was too raw.

She stole a glance at him as she tried to remind herself of all the terrible things he had done. He had stopped laughing by now and was not looking at her, perhaps on purpose, and she found herself getting more excited than less as she took in his features. She quickly looked down at _Darkness of the Realms _and opened it to the table of contents.


	13. Chapter 12

_This chapter M rated for: darker themes_

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><p><strong><em>Songs for this chapter: "BTSK" by MS MR; "Brake End Title" by Brian Tyler<em>**

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><p><strong>Chapter 12<strong>

Jane and Loki settled into a comfortable silence while they read. Every so often Jane would see Loki's book shimmer green and gold in her peripheral as he transcoded it and he would quickly turn the pages to the part he was looking to read.

Finally Jane exhausted her intensive skimming of _Darkness of the Realms_ and snapped the cover shut.

"Nothing?" Loki asked not looking up from his current transcoded book.

"Dark Elves, aether, the Battle of Bor told in three glorious ways." Jane riddled off. "Nothing but nightmares for me, thanks."

Loki scrunched up his nose and muttered, "My fault."

"Okay, I need to go to the library."

"Shall we go together Jane?" Loki said as he started to push himself inside her mind.

"Other way" Jane said and pushed back. Once she was back in the interiors of his brain, he thought a wink at her and transported them mentally to the Reference Section of the Æsir library.

No one was in library.

"Okay, show me how your transcode works." Jane thought to Loki.

"You know the indexing system, so find the title you need..." Loki flicked his wrist to turn the planetoid orb that was the index for Jötunheim's realm and stopped at the Jötunn word for death, which translated to common tongue as 'fire,' and they skimmed the titles.

"_Black Fire_!" they both exclaimed at once.

Jane smiled for a moment. Even in her university days of her third PhD, she'd never met someone as nerdy as Loki. _Maybe Tony Stark_, she mused. _Tony is a little more geek than nerd though_, Jane decided. Otherwise he and Loki weren't so different. Except that Loki was a mass murdering Jötunn. Jane reflected that Tony used to work in defense, living a life of debauchery and philandering funded by the financial gain his sales of deadly weapons brought in. In some ways Tony had killed more people than Loki, yet she trusted and respected Tony. _Maybe people actually can change._ She thought.

Her thought train was interrupted with an intense memory of Loki's that took place on Jötunheim. It was too overpowering for him to stop it from emerging. She could feel his fear as the smell of blood and the sound of war raged around them. Nál's voice was distinguishable in her shrieks of terror. "Not my son! Not my son!" she cried first in Jötunn then in Æsir. Jane felt Loki's emotion turn from fear to panic as his body was taken from Nál's grasp by a pair of searing hot hands. Odin's war torn face filled his vantage point.

"Monster!" Loki spat coming away from his memory. "Sorry Jane. Sorry you had to see that."

"It's okay." Jane thought softly, realizing the story Thor had told her about Odin saving Loki from certain death on Jötunheim wasn't true at all. Odin had taken Loki directly from Nál's arms. He had stolen him and victimized him to justify such a selfish and horrific deed to himself and to Frigga. Jane felt enraged. Nál was one of her tribe, one of her own kind. This type of assault simply was not allowed.

"Okay, here's the book." Loki pulled the small volume from the shelf. His emotion surrounding the memory was already gone. He had learned to compartmentalize it years ago. "Flip through it once and do your best to 'see' the contents. This part takes the most practice." He continued, demonstrating how to quickly flip through the book before handing it to Jane.

Jane forced herself to compartmentalize her own anger and focus on the moment at hand. She flipped through the volume, but had no ability to memorize any text while doing so.

"Now pretend you're going to conjure it, memorize the form." Loki thought.

Jane did so and thought, "Okay" when she was done. Loki pulled their illusions back into the cell and Jane separated her mind from his. They both rubbed out the pain in their heads for a moment. Doing this type of projection hurt more than a normal mindlink and Jane felt sapped of energy.

"Now transcode it onto that book." Loki said. "The information will be in the long-term mnemonic part of your brain that you don't access consciously for recall."

Jane tried. His instructions were somewhat lacking, but she would have to practice in order to learn, just like all the other magic he'd taught her. She felt finished as the book shimmered green and gold and quickly went to check her work. The pages were a blur of text, as if it captured only the visual of what she saw flipping through.

"Any luck?" Loki asked. He knew the answer based on her disappointed look.

"No, it's a blur. What exactly am I supposed to be doing?" Jane sighed. "Your vague instructions suck."

"Don't be rude. It's not my fault you can't do it." Loki said. He was still rubbing his temples.

"What's wrong?" Jane asked.

"Are you still in my head?" he asked.

"No, I unlinked once we got back."

"You've been keeping secrets from me, Jane." Loki said. His head snapped up and his eyes locked onto hers before he added, "Haven't you?"

Jane immediately blocked her mind in anticipation on Loki's attempts at penetration. It hurt to do and she already felt so exhausted.

"I'm not hiding anything from you." She said. "How the hell could I even do that?"

"Stop blocking me then!" he yelled.

"I don't want you in my head again." She replied. "Why is that a big deal?"

"You're lying to me." Loki was still yelling. "Lie! Lies! Lies!"

Each time he said the word he multiplied his form. Four Lokis began to advance on Jane in her sitting chair. It was a trap. If she worked to tell mentally which one was real, she would have to unblock her mind. She threw the book she was holding at one of them and it zoomed through the illusion causing it to vanish.

_Two to go._ Jane thought.

The easiest way, besides throwing things, would be to touch the skin of each of them. Only one could turn Jötunn. But then she would turn Jötunn and she did not think they were screening the cell at that moment. She couldn't risk the rest of the prison seeing her change form.

"Are we really doing this?" Jane asked as she stood up. "I know you're tired, too."

The Lokis kept advancing and she multiplied forms back, making extra duplications to outnumber Loki two to one. He responded with further duplications of himself. All the Janes rolled their eyes and she doubled his number. He responded in kind and this went on until the cell was filled to capacity with laughing duplications.

"Your plan won't work." The Lokis all said.

"I don't even have a plan!" the Janes shot back. "Agent of chaos over here."

"That's my line." The Lokis said.

"You need a new one. You don't even like chaos! Agent of Control Freak is more like it."

"You amuse yourself, sweet Jane, but you will not be so amused when I slit your throat this night."

"You will find it difficult to do so having lost your head already." Jane said. She had no clue what they were doing, but she was having fun slinging insults at him.

"But what use is a head for you? You prefer what's below the waist—or so you screamed with Thor." The Lokis countered.

"Have my screams piqued your thoughts so much you beg I take your sword?" The Janes said with raised eyebrows. "I will only take your sword when you pledge your fealty to me."

"So this is what Jane desires? You mean to steal my glorious purpose as your own? You wish to see me bow to you?"

"You do so love to kneel, Loki." The Janes smirked at him. "That is what Skaði whispers into the frozen night now that you've abandoned her."

Loki dropped his forms and stared at her. Jane dropped her forms and raised her eyebrows at him as if to say, "Bring it."

A stray applause caused them both to jump and look at the glass wall. Fandral stood there giving an ovation.

"Sif said you were flyting, but that was beyond my expectations." He said. "Well won, Jane. With the Skaði reference—oh my, that is quite an old classic to win on against Loki. I'm impressed."

Jane knew it was her reference to Loki's abandonment rather than to Skaði that caused Loki to cede. She said nothing and looked at Fandral. _Perhaps he's come to free me._ She thought hopefully.

"What do you want, Fandral?" Loki growled. "We are busy trying to find a cure to this black death."

Jane looked at Loki and asked, "Did you transcode it?"

He gave her a look that said 'yes' before adding, "Nothing much of use. No one gives a damn about Jötunheim here."

Jane crossed her arms, reinforced her mind block, and turned back to Fandral.

"Jane, you have a visitor." Fandral said. "From Midgard."

"Oh god, not Erik?" Jane asked.

"By the Norns, is Heimdall to admit every mortal who calls on Jane?" Loki groaned.

"He, um, came on his own." Fandral said, shifting his weight uncomfortably before lowering his voice to say, "And, my lady, he keeps talking to himself, calling himself Jarvis."

Loki sunk into the daybed, letting out a long groan.

"You tell him I still want that drink!" Loki called from the bed.

"I don't give alcohol to dead guys. Waste of scotch." Tony Stark said, emerging in the company of a grey-skinned Æsir guard. He looked at Fandral and added, "Wasn't he dead?"

"Tony?" Jane said, surprised he was there.

"Like the new digs, Foster." Tony smiled at her. "Though I thought you were shacking up with Thor not his alien brother? But, hey, no judgment from me—sometimes you get tired of the facial hair. I get it."

Jane rolled her eyes and then pulled focus.

"Thor's dying." She said. "What are you doing here?"

"Hill sent me after you circumvented Selvig. Defying authority for space? I must be rubbing off on you." He explained with a grin. "What are you doing in prison, Foster?"

"Thor's on-again, off-again One True Love is holding a grudge against her." Loki offered. "That's the prison gossip, anyway."

"Wait, when were they together?" Jane asked.

"A couple hundred years ago." Fandral replied. "They've been betrothed since childhood."

"Exes can be rough." Tony nodded. "Pepper turned this guy down once and then he decided to seek his revenge by forcefeeding her some deadly thermal virus to make her his trophy. Literal trophy, not figurative. Talk about an awkward time in the relationship for us! Anyway, the Pepper-Hill version of S.H.I.E.L.D. is desperate. It's a shitstorm on Earth at the moment, and I don't mean metaphorically. The rain is black."

"What?" Jane said, remembering that the rain had looked darker than usual to her. "How long has it been going on?"

"Three days." Tony said.

"Have they tested it yet?" Loki asked. He was now standing next to Jane intrigued by the new topic.

"Has anyone been infected?" Jane asked.

"The tests aren't working—it's extra-terrestrial so we have nothing to test it with, really. And, yes, people are infected."

"What are the symptoms?" Loki asked.

"Look around, wise guy. Same here as it is there."

"It must be in the sea." Jane said. "The Ægir of Asgard forms an under-atmosphere that then seeps down as radiation to Earth. Mostly harmless, like solar flares, but this is not radiation we're talking about if the rain is black."

"You guys really need an environmental cleanup program!" Tony said and looked between Fandral and the guard.

"Jane," Loki began. "Can I come in?"

"No, I will." she said and pushed her mind back into his instead of allowing him entry to hers.

"What the hell is happening to them?" Tony demanded. Jane and Loki's expressions both had gone blank like robots in stasis.

"They're harnessing a mindlink. Jane is a passenger inside Loki's brain." Fandral explained. Even though it was not something most people could do, he was used to it from being around Loki and Frigga.

"Inside crazy pants' brain?"

"Safer that way," Fandral explained. "She controls what she shares, while he cannot."

Tony nodded, processing this information.

"I like your moustache by the way...what was it, Fandral?" Tony said.

"Yes, Fandral." He smiled. "Thank you. I find the women prefer it."

"Me too," Tony said, rubbing his own facial hair. "How long are they gonna be under?"

Fandral shrugged.

"I've never seen them do it. Jane came back from Midgard with new powers. She discovered Loki was alive, and it seems he took her that night. We don't really know. A lot has been happening."

"When was that?"

"Two months ago, give or take."

"Two months?" Tony cried. "She's been off the grid mind melding with that problem child for two months?!"

"We are remiss on the details, I'm afraid." Fandral sighed heavily. "They just returned yesterday."

Jane and Loki came back then, each holding their heads in pain. Jane looked at Fandral and said, "We need to go to Jötunheim."

"Timeout, Jane." Tony said, making a 'T' sign with his hands. "Did you email me all the specs for the Mini-Bifröst?"

"The what?" Jane asked.

Everyone looked at Loki.

"I thought it was a cute name!" he protested. "Very Jane."

"Not the point," Jane said.

"It's kind of banal, actually." Tony said, weighing the name afresh in his mind.

"Don't even say it." Jane said quickly to Loki. He gave her a little smirk, but kept his mouth shut. "What else were you doing as me down there? I thought you'd just have me hanging around my apartment alone doing nothing."

"When are you ever idle?" Loki said. "Besides, there was this guy...Richard."

"Richard? I hung out with him one time!"

"Well, he was certainly persistent. He called almost every day."

"So?" Jane said. "I was with someone!"

"That was unclear. So, I just explained you were a whore and he laughed." Loki said.

Jane swung a punch at him and he ducked. This was their planned signal for Loki to start projecting a screen of them as illusions so they could actualize their real plan without revealing that Jane was Jötunn.

In the illusion the frivolous Richard argument continued and illusion Loki kept on pulling out outlandish tales of what he did as Jane on Midgard.

Meanwhile the real Jane, hidden from Fandral and Tony by the screen, pulled the vial of orka she'd gotten in Jötunheim from her pocket and drank a sip. The real Loki took her hand in his and they shifted into Jötunn form.

"Remember what I told you." Loki said.

Jane nodded, closed her eyes, and touched her forehead markings to initiate the telepathy. Her mind swirled a moment as a rush of stony voices entered it. Her tribe. Finally Nál's voice emerged from the crowd to address her.

"What do you seek, child?" Nál asked.

"An answer." Jane replied in thought.

"Ask." Nál commanded.

"The black fire—is there a cure?"

"The black fire cannot affect Jötnar." Nál said quickly.

Jane saw Nál was avoiding her question due to the lack of privacy and realized she would have to go in person to get the answers she needed. This was what she and Loki expected to happen, but were hoping to avoid.

"May I come visit your libraries, Nál?"

"Of course, Jötnar are always encouraged to increase their learning."

"May I bring a couple of friends? They are not Jötnar. They are Æsir and Human."

Nál did not answer immediately. Jane gave Loki's hand a squeeze to ail her anxiety. She couldn't allow her thoughts to take over. The truth of Asgard's state of emergency had to remain a secret. She felt his thumb run over hers softly. She was certain he meant to calm her, but it was having quite the opposite effect. As her heart rate increased to an almost intolerable level, she nearly begged Nál to say something.

"Who are you with?" Nál finally said.

"Long story." Jane thought back, but she knew the image of Loki was being transmitted telepathically. It was her primary thought at the moment.

"Don't bring him." Nál said.

"He's imprisoned. He won't be going anywhere."

"Do not be so certain, Jane." Nál warned. "He is a snake."

"Interesting word choice," Jane noted.

"I see you found your gift of Mimir?" Nál smiled.

"We have a lot to talk about." Jane thought.

Nál agreed and added, "Hurry here. You may bring your friends—as long as they remain such while in Utgard."

"Thank you, they will." Jane assured Nál.

A chorus of 'goodbye' and 'see you soon' came from the rest of the tribe and Jane opened her eyes. She forced her mind blank, as Loki had instructed, and then filled it with Tony and Fandral. She played out a scene with them for a few minutes until she could no longer hear the tribe's thoughts. The link was broken.

Jane let out a deep breath she didn't realize she'd been holding and looked at Loki to signal she was done.

"Did she tell you anything?" he asked.

"No, but she permitted entrance." Jane said.

"Good enough," Loki said. "When do we leave?"

"You know you're not coming." Jane raised an eyebrow at him.

Loki smiled mischievously and released her hand. Before either of them could change form from Jötunn, he placed his hand on her cheek.

"Let me know what you learn." He said.

"I will." Jane said.

They held each other's red eyes for a moment before Loki dropped his hand. His other hand was engaged in keeping the magic running their illusions, who were now in a heated debate over whether Loki owed more of an apology to Erik or to Tony. Jane was preparing herself to enter the conversation for her illusion when Loki abruptly said, "No, wait."

She looked back at him in time to see he was leaning towards her. She was about to ask what was wrong when his lips found hers. Their frames grew back to Jötunn size as he kissed her. To her surprise, she found her hand moving to his chest, continuing upwards, and finally tangling itself in his soft, slippery hair. Before she could admonish herself enough to stop, Loki pulled away.

"I'm sorry," he breathed out. His red eyes did not look apologetic.

Jane said nothing. Her hand was still in his hair and Loki's free hand was wrapped loosely around her waist.

"I just thought you might die before I see you again." Loki added finally.

Jane was unsure what to make of this, but the sudden silence made her realize their illusions were not talking.

"The illusions, Loki!" she urged.

"Shit." He said.

Their illusions' voices filled the air again and their true selves released each other so they could return to non-Jötunn form.

Finally Jane said, "Richard didn't really call me, right? Because that would be kinda creepy."

"No," Loki laughed. "I just picked a name from your phone's address book."

"Are my eyes okay?" Jane asked.

"Brown." Loki said. "Mine?"

"Green." Jane said.

They looked at each other a little longer before Loki said, "Come back, okay?"

"It's all part of the plan." Jane said with a light laugh.

Loki gave her a moment to listen to the illusions' conversation before finding a break and dropping the screen. They stepped back in for the illusions seamlessly when he dropped the screen.

"Okay, enough of your stalling, Loki." Jane said, shooting him a glare before looking at Fandral. "We should get going if we're to reach Utgard before their nightfall."

"And why exactly are you coming?" Fandral asked her.

"I'm the only one Nál's permitted entry."

"Says who? It's forbidden." Fandral looked at Loki with some hatred before saying, "Even if the proclamation was given under guise, the Jötnar will not see it that way."

"Says Nál." Jane said impatiently. "Look, it's a long story, I'll give you that, but let me tell you it on the way. Every second we stand here debating, someone else on one of our realms gets infected."

"Not that Planet Hoth was on my vacay list this year, Fandral, but she does have a point." Tony said.

"And Loki?" Fandral asked.

"Let the guy rot." Jane said.

She could see Loki roll his eyes in her peripheral.

"You said he can't die." Fandral said.

"Rotting technically is decay over time, eventually leading to death, but not in itself death." Tony said.

"Yes, thank you, iron freak." Loki sneered. "Now can you all please go? Heimdall can hear you and his anticipation is a burden on my brain."

Fandral nodded to the guard hovering by Tony and he shut off the cell's magic long enough for Jane to exit. After the magic was back in place, the trio set off. Jane cast a glance back at Loki and he blew her a kiss while wearing a cheeky grin. She rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop a giggle from escaping. Tony gave her a raised eyebrow look and she just shook her head, using magic to hide her blush.

After they were out of sight, Loki slid into the chair Jane had been sitting in, breathing in her lingering scent. He felt relieved with her absence because he finally had his mind back to himself. He relaxed into his isolation, pleased to let his mind roam freely. The only place it would seem to go though was back to Jane. He frowned. Even if they had formed an alliance during their last mindlink, this sentiment was an unexpected complication.

~.~.~

Shortly after leaving the prison, the group had a run-in with Sif.

"Why is she not locked up? She's a danger to all of us." Sif demanded of Fandral.

"She is under my protection, Sif." Fandral said, his hand reaching for the helm of his sword. "Leave it alone."

Sif glared at Fandral before stating heatedly, "The blood falls to your hands then."

"There will be no blood to claim." Fandral shot back. "Now if you'll excuse us, Heimdall awaits to send us to Jötunheim for a cure."

Sif held her ground and Jane wondered how long before Sif caught the plague from Thor. It was surprising she was not already infected based on what Jane had observed since arriving back on Asgard. Jane scoured Sif's body for any signs of illness. _Is it possible Sif is just a carrier?_ Jane wondered. Fandral appeared unaffected as well, and Jane mulled over the idea that they both were carriers.

Fandral interrupted Jane's thoughts when he asked Sif in a concerned voice, "Sif, why do you carry that?"

Sif followed his gaze to her hip and saw the silencer she had taken off of Lorelei the day before hooked to her waistband. The tingling of dread seeped over her as she realized her colossal error.

"Why did you do this?" Fandral asked.

Sif just shook her head, too shocked with herself to say anything.

"Go now and see if she is yet to escape." Fandral urged.

"You know she has." Sif said.

"Sif," Fandral's tone shifted and he moved her away from Jane and Tony. "Was this your intention?"

Sif stared at him. _You are the one trying to usurp the throne, not me._ She thought.

"I just need to understand." Fandral said. "I need to understand what is happening to you."

"To me?" Sif said. "To you!"

"What?" Fandral asked as his brow furrowed.

"I would never jeopardize our king's safety." Sif said. "How dare you accuse me of such treachery!"

"What is wrong with you?" Fandral yelled. "No one accuses you of anything!"

"Go." Sif demanded. "Go to Jötunheim. But know that we will not send aid. When they capture you upon arrival, you will suffer their torture alone."

Fandral glared at her and Jane stepped between them, pushing Fandral back towards Tony.

"We understand, Sif." Jane said hastily. "Keep Thor comforted while we're gone. I will be coming back with a solution to save you all. Goodbye, Sif."

Sif stared at Jane angrily, but she did not stop them as Jane led the two men past her towards the most direct route to the Rainbow Bridge.

Once they were out of earshot, or at least mortal earshot, Tony asked, "Was that the chick I think it was?"

Jane nodded.

"She's pretty hot." Tony said. "Got a great tough girl thing going on, very Lara Croft."

"She's the best warrior Asgard has." Jane said, knowing Sif could hear them. She added, "No offense, Fandral."

"None at all," he smiled. "I quite agree with you, Jane."

"I thought Thor was your top dog?" Tony asked.

"Thor...lacks an instinct that Sif does not." Jane said, shaking her head.

"Hm," Tony said. He wondered if Jane was really comparing Thor to Sif or to another certain someone.

"I'll need my cloak." Fandral said, starting to veer towards the hall that led to his quarters.

Jane conjured a fur-lined cloak and handed it to him.

"Here," she said. "Contrary to popular belief, not everyone who can do magic is a backstabbing, selfish ego-maniac."

Fandral laughed.

"You got your suit, Tony?" Jane asked Tony. He was in jeans and a long sleeve Iron Maiden t-shirt.

"JARVIS, it's time." was Tony's response.

The metal pieces of his Iron Man suit flew towards them and assembled fluidly onto Tony's body.

"Fascinating," Fandral said watching. "Do mortals call magic 'jarvis'?"

Jane laughed.

"Just me," Tony said, flipping up the visor of his helmet.

"Will it keep you warm?" Jane asked him.

"Thermal controls were just honed for my space trip." Tony confirmed.

"We're ready then." Jane said.

Fandral called the horses with a whistle and he and Jane mounted easily.

"When did you get so badass, Foster?" Tony smirked.

"A month ago." Jane said and smiled before nudging Glenr to a gallop.

Tony flew next to their horses down the length of the Rainbow Bridge and Heimdall awaited them at the Observatory. He took in their attire to ensure everyone was dressed warmly enough, raising an eyebrow at Jane's lack of coat. She quickly conjured one and he gave a nod. Jane was uncertain if Heimdall knew she was Jötunn.

"As you are aware, traveling to Jötunheim is forbidden without express permission from Queen Nál." Heimdall said. "Do you each have this permission?"

"Yes." Jane replied.

"Good." Heimdall said. "Because I was sending you anyway, but now I can have some hope you might actually return."

"We plan to all three return, Heimdall, my friend." Fandral said. "Thank you for helping us."

"I do this for Asgard." Heimdall said as he pushed his sword into the Bifröst ignition.

"For Asgard!" Fandral cried.

His words were scattered across space as the Bifröst transported the three of them to Jötunheim in whirl of dark energy.

This trip seemed longer to Jane, like the one from Midgard had, and she wondered if it was her improved vision or her expanded mind that gave this difference in perception. Now that she knew how to move through space herself, everything just looked like atoms and dark matter waiting to be rearranged for her purposes. Infinite possibilities. There were no limits. Her thoughts shifted quickly to Loki. She was not thinking of how he'd never used the full limitlessness of his powers though; she was thinking how she wished he was there. How they could play with dark matter along the journey of the Bifröst and how much more fun things were with him around.

* * *

><p>After allowing Fandral and Jane to leave with Jane's mortal, Sif hurried to the prisons. She reasoned it had only been a day that Lorelei could use her voice and with so many people ill, perhaps she had not managed to speak to anyone yet.<p>

She had left Thor in Abigæl's care after she had reported the mortal man's presence on Asgard. Running made Sif realize how weak she was. Her stomach screamed with hunger pains.

Sif took the route that would avoid passing Loki's cell. She had almost fully elevated her hopes by the time she turned the corner that led to the isolation cell. A guard lunged at her from the darkness, specifically reaching for the silencer. Centuries of training took over Sif's body and she dispossessed him, put him in a hold, and deposited and sealed him inside Lorelei's empty cell in about a minute's time. She panted, trying to catch her breath as the guard slammed his body angrily into the cell's glass wall.

Sif knew he would be under Lorelei's spell until her magic was disabled or she chose to remove it. The only way to contain the threat he posed through Lorelei's mind control was to imprison or kill him.

"I am so sorry." Sif said to the guard.

Sif could hardly believe she committed such an error as to forget to replace the silencer on Lorelei. Now Lorelei had escaped and was likely halfway across the galaxy. It was entirely her fault. Her mistake. Her lack of discipline in her anger that had caused this. She could feel tears forming and left the room, hurrying out of the prisons, which were beginning to smell of death.

_I must eat._ She told herself. Her feet moved her towards her old quarters to find Volstagg. She knew he would have food.

On the way there, she passed an open balcony at the exact moment the Bifröst opened. While she watched the surge of energy take Fandral, Jane, and the mortal away from Asgard, she felt a sliver of relief, as if she could finally exhale a long baited breath.

When she walked into her quarters, her sense of relief vanished. It was nearly silent inside. The normal noises of Volstagg's children's squeals, laughter, and cries were deafening in their absence. Sif walked directly into Volstagg's chambers, not bothering to knock. His wife, Gudrun, looked up at her from the wash basin. Her skin was grey and her eyes cloudy. She was filling a water jug.

"Lady Sif," Gudrun whispered as a greeting.

Sif nodded to her and walked into the bedroom. Volstagg was on the bed, his skin grey and his red hair faded to a dull brown. Surrounding him on the bed were his children. All of them were huddled together for warmth under the thick blankets. All but one. Sif's remaining color drained from her face as she noticed their oldest daughter's still and ashen body on the floor in the corner.

Gudrun pushed past Sif with the fresh water and some clean cloths. As she dampened the cloths the way Sif had done for Thor so many times, she said to her, "We lost Hildi last night. Now Volstagg has contracted this illness in his attempts to save her."

"Gudrun," Sif said softly, taking the water jug from her shaking hands. "You must rest. I will care for you all. Lie down. Surely you are freezing."

Gudrun began to cry and Sif placed the jug on the bedside table and wrapped her arms around Gudrun's stout frame, holding her while she shook with sobs. Sif managed to tuck her in bed with the others and stayed with them until everyone fell asleep.

Her need for food became overpowering and she remembered Fandral had mentioned a fresh hunt yesterday. She headed towards the kitchens, having to hold onto the walls and columns along the way so she would not fall. She looked again at her skin to check its color. It still was not grey.

_I have to eat._ She thought. It was all she could think, becoming a chant in her mind as she trudged on to the kitchens.

When she arrived they were void of life like the rest of the palace. Food was left out, half cured, half wrapped, as if the staff disappeared midway through their work. She smelled items before consuming them as some had clearly begun to rot. When she had eaten enough to feel able to stand again, she took in the scene in the kitchen with more detail. It was not empty like she had thought. People lay on the floor, skin ashen rather than grey. It was the color of Hildi's skin; the color of Æsir death. Sif moved slowly towards one of the bodies, tapping the leg with her foot before she knelt to check for a pulse. There was none.

A noise came from the next room and Sif stiffened, standing up quickly. She inched towards the direction of the noise, her sword pulled. She moved through the open doorway and found herself staring at a massive stag.

"What are you doing here?" she asked the animal in a soft voice as not to startle it.

The stag looked at her with scared, black eyes. She noticed its skin was greyer than was normal for deer and it began to whimper in a way Sif had never known deer to do. She put her sword down and slowly approached the creature. When she was only six feet away it turned and ran to the other side of the room, its hooves clumsy on the tile.

Sif let out a scream. When the stag had turned, it revealed the other side of its body, which was cut open like it had been quartered.

"What in Hel happened to you?" Sif whispered. "How are you alive?"

The stag lay on the floor, still whimpering. Sif knew she needed to kill it to end its suffering. She readied her sword again and spoke in a soothing voice as she approached it. She stabbed it cleanly and swiftly through the heart and the stag slumped fully to the floor.

When she pulled her blade from its body, it was covered in black blood. _Only the Jötnar have blood like this. _Sif thought. _I must tell Heimdall. He must bring them back from Jötunheim. It could only be a trap._


End file.
